Going and Living
by Aviandra
Summary: Chiru Hyuuga is a half-blood Hyuuga haunted by her fathers disppearance. Life goes on, however, and Chiru must hang on. Chuunin Exams, Bestfriends, training, and of course, the pain-in-the-ass Hyuuga Council keeps her life very, very hectic, and very, very busy.
1. Destiny Made You Weak

**I don't own Naruto. I own no-one except Hiroshi Hyuuga, Anzu Hyuuga, Sibai Hyuuga, and Chiru Hyuuga.**

**If I did own Naruto, the world would be on fire.**

Chiru Hyuuga decidedly hated groceries. And old men. And perverts.

It was bad enough she was forcing herself through the mid-morning rush (in the opposite direction it was heading) with a huge bag of food on her shoulder. It was even worse taking as she could barely see over the hulking masses of bigger men and the bosoms of bigger ladies. Yes, that was bad enough.

But_ no_. Someone just had to touch her butt. They just had too.

That was the main reason Chiru hated crowds, too. So crowded and canned in, never able to keep track of everyone around you, never able to see where you're going when you're my height. Anyone could do anything to you, but the moment you turned around, they were gone. But this man was slow, and old. Chiru turned fast enough to catch a man with wispy hair trying to retreat.

"Hey! Pervert! Old man is a pervert! He touched my ass!" A large circle emerged around the said man.

Sometimes it was good to be a woman.

The man waved his gnarled hands around in circles, violently denying it all. "No, no missy! I didn't-!"

"You liar! Pervert! _Pervert_!" Chiru screamed dramatically, clutching her groceries to her chest and making a swift departure. The judgmental denizens could do the rest. Chiru had some groceries to deliver.

She sent a wicked smirk at the blurry image of the geezer and ran faster, eyeing his fading figure. "Ah, that was nice."

She turned, smirk still on her face. Now it was slipping, slipping. She dragged her heels in the dirt, backpedaling violently...

She swear she didn't know the wall was there until the moment before she ran into it. She swears.

She fell to the ground, her groceries- her mission- sent spiraling into the air, flipping in a perfect arc to the hard, unforgiving ground. Chiru tried to rid her eyes of the water they were emitting. _Hit someone square in the nose, their eyes water up, and they can't see._

She groped around desperately, rubbing her eyes with her arm. "_Kuso_," She whispered savagely.

_"Kuso!" _

She forced her eyes open, only to see and hear the pathetic crushing of eggs and fragile milk bottles. The bananas, apples, and cabbage were no doubt bruised, and the covering to the meat was probably broken, dirt all over their rich flesh. The groceries were ruined. Chiru failed her mission.

She was going to kill her. No doubt about it. She was going to kill Chiru.

_"Kuso! Jigoku e no chikuso!_" Chiru cried out pathtically, rushing over to the paper bag and digging though its contents, kneeling by the bag. "Come on, come on, come on!" Chiru yelled as she tossed aside broken eggs, yolks oozing out of their shells, bruised apples, and broken celery sticks.

Chiru nearly cried in relief. "Yes! The shrimp are OK!" She held the visibly unscatched shrimp to the sky, staring at it in relief! "Something to salvage! Yes, yes-," The rip in the plastic ripped open, succesfully dumping slimy, ice-cold shrimp onto her unsuspecting face. In her eyes, even. Why was it always her eyes?

Chiru let out a squeal and fell to the ground, smearing off shrimp goop and crystallized shrimp goop. Dirt squiggled its way into the goop, muddying up her face and making her look like a wild-woman fresh from the outback.

"Did you trip again, Chiru-chan?" Tokuma Hyuuga's tiredly aggravated tone of voice made her stop her spasms and her squeals. She sat up slowly, wiping the rest of the slimy liquid off her face with a flourish. Bloodshot byakugan eyes slowly opened up to see her annoying kind-and-calm cousin/best friend standing before her, an identical brown paper bag in one hand. He rolled his eyes.

"Why do you always show up at the most embarassing moments, Tokuma? Why?" Chiru asked grumpily. Tokuma replied by holding out his hand, a pleased smile on his face. "I swear, Tokuma. We met when my jacket was snagged on a tree I was climbing, and you had a full view of my chest."

Chiru held the imagine of how bright the usually pale nine-year-olds face dear. Alos how he then immediately helped her down, stuttering all the same.

_"Shush."_ Tokuma ordered, face turning red like it always did when she mentioned that. She smirked and let out a guffaw, inwardly glowing with proudness. Tokuma was such a gentleman. A shy, taunting little bastard of a gentleman, but a gentleman all the same.

"What's in the bag?" Chiru asked pointedly, pointing at the bag. "Your groceries. I picked up some extra, just in case this happened."

"Man! You're kidding me! I'm that predictable?"

Tokuma rolled his eyes. He gifted Chiru with a pointed look and answered, "Yes. Come on, lets clean up this mess and get these home to your mother. You know she'll kill you if she knows you broke them."

"I know my mother well enough to know that!" Chiru snapped, swooping down to gather up the ruined foodstuffs and throwing them in the nearby dumpster. Tokuma was staring at the remaining egg yolks and milk puddles. "Oh, suck it up, you big baby. It'll decompose."

Tokuma shook his head and rolled his eyes to the sky. "Me? A baby? I have the best Byakuugan in the family, you know."

"You're taunting me again."

"I know."

He was making a reference to her naturally weak Byakuugan. Being born with a civilian mother and a Hyuuga father, her Byakuugan barely made it through the process. Byakuugan was a recessive trait. It was a miracle she ended up with it at all, really. But her younger sister, on the other hand...

The walk to the compound was filled with boisterous teasing and dangerous shoves, mostly by Chiru. Tokuma was the kind of polite, shy kind of man that was so easy to pick on. Mention the word 'boobs' and someones flips his color switch. Pale to red in a drop of a hat. It was feat to be seen.

The gate of the Hyuuga compound was soft under Chiru's calloused hands. "Hey, remember that time-," She said to Tokuma, chuckling. She rammed into something solid and hard, and her height. She stumbled, stepping back. But Tokuma's steady hand was already on the small of her back. "Hey, watch it buddy!" Chiru snarled, looking up the culpable Hyuuga.

Her gaze was met with the even glare of Neji Hyuuga. Chiru stopped dead, looking down into the firey gaze of the angry branch-member._ "Neji."_

"Chiru."

She looked over his head. "I'd like to deliver my groceries, so can you please...?" Chiru motioned to the side. It was customary to move aside for an older member of the family.

"What makes you think I'd move for you, _Nanmon_?"

Chiru closed her eyes and furrowed her brows. She has hated Neji Hyuuga since the Hyuuga affair. She had been at Neji's birth. Hizashi Hyuuga had been her sensei. She had only been a Genin at the time, but the way she couldn't help but fuss over him made her feel thirty years old. But then...

"Listen to me, Neji! I am a branch member, just like you!" She swiped away her bangs, showing him boldly the green-ish seal on her forehead. She was the only member of the branch that didn't fully hide it. You could see the right side of the seal.

Her thinking was simple: What was the point of hiding something everyone knows you have?

"I demand equal respect! I have a Byakuugan, as do you. I was a friend of your fathers," she couldn't help but feel accomplished at his hardened glare. "And I held you as a baby. What have I done to make you not respect me?"

"You are weak." Chiru rubbed under her right eye self-consciously. Her Byakuugan again...

"I was born with a naturally weak Byakuugan, due to a scarred Chakra system around my crown. You know that."

"Destiny has made you weak."

Chiru shot a glance at Tokuma, who had been staying thankfully quiet the whole time. Tokuma shot a glance back at her, shrugging. His face read, You know how Neji is.

Yes, and I don't like it. She shot back.

Tokuma shrugged. Chiru sighed at the lack of help and just said, "I'm tired of you Neji. Now move."

She pushed him aside, (with the help a tad bit of chakra, she admits. Neji is not an easy one to move) and stepped around him, Tokuma following with the groceries. Neji sent them an icy-hot glare and moved on as well.

"I used to adore Neji."

Tokuma sent Chiru an amused look. "You like all adorable babies." Chiru crossed her arms crisply. "Touché."

"Thank you for coming to dinner, Tokuma-kun." Anzu Hyuuga told Tokuma merrily. "Sibai, Chiru, what do you say?"

Sibai answered obediently, "Thank you for coming, Tokuma-kun."

Chiru rolled her eyes. "Come on Mom. He'd come to dinner if we threw him into the sun."

Tokuma chuckled and tossed a pea at her head. It bounced off her forehead as he answered, "True."

Chiru growled and crossed her arms. "Don't you have, you know, a life to get too? What about your moms dinner?"

Tokuma opened his mouth to talk but the cry of, "TOKUMA HYUUGA! DON'T MAKE ME GO FIND YOU!" Tokuma sighed and stood up. "Thank you for the food, Anzu-san, but I must go. Mother calls."

He disappeared in a poof of smoke. Anzu stared at the place he was. She blinked in disbelief. Sibai and Chiru could only stare at their mother. Being the mother of a Field Jounin, (Chiru) and a Chuunin Medic (Sibai) you'd think she'd be used to people disappearing like that.

Anzu smiled, her wrinkled eyes turning into little upside down U's. She flapped her hand at them, smiling widely. "Oh, that still surprises me, that's all!"

Sibai and Chiru sighed as their mother chuckled 'he he he' behind them endlessly. "Come on big sister, let's go to bed." Chiru sighed and tussled her little sisters hair. "That may be a good idea."

They left their mother chuckling 'He he he' in the dining room.

Later, when they were changing into their PJ's, her sister asked the unavoidable question. Chiru was busy tying her robe, looping through the knots, her tongue peeking out of her mouth. "Hey, sister?"

"Hm?" Why wouldn't this knot tie right?

Sibai's voice was hesitant, faint. Her voice trembled as she spoke, "W-what was daddy like?"

Chiru froze half-way through her knot. Her hands slowed and dropped to her sides. "Sibai...," She turned to her younger sister. She was pretending to be occupied with tying her hair up into a long pony-tail for bed, but Chiru knew otherwise. The way her eyes stayed firmly on the ground and the way she just seemed to be flipping her hair around in loops.

Chiru collapsed on their bed, patting the spot next to her fondly. "Come here, Sibai. Sit down."

Sibai hesitantly sat down next to her sister. Sibai stared at Chiru anxiously, blue eyes curled in concern. Chiru's eyes scanned over her sister, amazed. Sibai inherited their mothers fawn brown hair and deep blue eyes, not to mention the flawless tanned skin. The only thing they shared were fathers leptorrhine nose and their mothers roundest-almond eyes.

Chiru had black Hyuuga hair, Hyuuga eyes, and pale skin. Her mother would seldom say, "Why, Chiru; you're looking so much like your father every day."

"Sibai...," Chiru started softly. She didn't like talking about Hiroshi Hyuuga and neither did her mother. It was a painful memory left best buried.

"Please, sister! Mother never talks about him, and you're the only one I can go to!" Sibai begged, latching onto her sisters sleeve. Chiru sighed softly and took her sisters hand. "Father was kind and he liked to play ball. He would toss the ball to me and he would cheer and clap when I caught it. He liked to tickle me and Mother...,"

Chiru didn't like talking about their father, though it was a big weight off her chest. She laid her sister down on her side of the queen-sized bed before laying next to her.

"He was a bit sloppy, sometimes. One time he gave me a grocery list to show Mother, but Mother made me take it back and have him rewrite it. Father was a very nice man."

Sibai looked disappointed. "But, sister... then why is he dead?"

"He's not dead! He's not dead...," she rolled over and mumbled the last bit into the pillow. Sibai, sensing her sisters pain, stayed silent. She rolled to face the opposite direction of her sister. "Good night."

"Good night."

And they slept.

_Everything was blurry. Soft green grass under her feet, the familiar Hyuuga compound surrounding her. Three men with clear pools of skin-color faces. Their body languages suggested shame, hatred. Chiru didn't care. She yelled and ran about in her pink-and-purple yukata, short black hair bouncing._

_"Here, Chiru. Catch the ball." A featureless man threw her a red-and-blue ball. He had long black hair brushed back and traditional clothing. She stumbled, but caught it. "Hey! Hey! I caught it! I caught it!" Chiru yelled happily, running up to the man. _

_"Good job, Chiru!" He picked her up and span her around and around. She laughed and laughed. They rubbed noses. "I love you, Father."_

_"I will always love you, my Chiru."_

_A splitting scream pierced the air. Suddenly Chiru was on the ground, alone. Hiroshi was walking away, fading out of existence quickly and rematerializing seconds later, paces ahead. He left Chiru alone, holding the ball. _

_Her father was in the distance, holding the source of the noise. Chiru's mother was next to him. "Hiroshi... she... she doesn't have...,"_

_"I know. She doesn't have the Byakuugan." He lowered his head, kissed his wife's forehead. _

_It all happened at once. A seal on Chiru's wide forehead glowed green, everything around her dimming. The seal on Hiroshi's forehead was glowing, too. The men were approaching, their milky white Byakuugan glowing on their featureless face. Hiroshi, the baby, and Anzu were fading, growing farther away. The cheery scene disappeared, replaced with a dull, gray landscape. _

_She felt something tugging at her arms, something cold and metallic clasped around her forehead, where her new seal was. She ignored them, tugging at the bonds. Anzu and the baby had disappeared, but Hiroshi was so faint and only growing fainter. No, she couldn't lose Hiroshi. Anyone but Hiroshi._

_"Father!" She cried out desperately. Hiroshi turned and held out his hand, smiling kindly. She reached towards his hand, stretching farther and farther. The bonds held her back. The bonds wouldn't let go._

_Blackness was creeping closer to Hiroshi. It was blurry and opaque. Closer, closer... it had reached him. Identical chains snapped around his wrists and his forehead. The silver flashed before it slipped him into the dark. The monster that took her father away drifted away on rapid winds._

_"No! Father!" Angered, Chiru turned. Who held her back? Who chained her away from what she wanted? Who kept her so close yet so far?_

_Hands gripped her arms, the leaf emblem burnt on their palms. A pulsing chain with the Hyuuga symbol scratched on its shiny surface trapped her. They gripped tighter, pulling her against the grey wall, her arms to her sides. Helpless and broken, Chiru sank to the ground, legs curled to her side. The bonds left, but she was stuck to the wall. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. She was alone, only the distant cries of a baby echoing in her ears._

_She was not a little girl anyone. She was a trapped twenty-one year old._

_She hung her head, defeated. Tears leaked from her eyes. The Caged Bird hung tauntingly on the wall she was trapped on. "Father," she whispered as a last resort. She could do nothing but sit and cry. _

_Cry and wait._

_Wait and suffer._

_Why bother to hope when there is nothing to hope for?_

Chiru bolt upright in a cold sweat. White eyes wide in fright, she wiped her forehead. "Sister? What's wrong?" Sibai sleepily asked beside her. She ignored her younger sister and dropped her head.

Tears freely streamed out of her eyes. Chiru could taste the salty water in her mouth.

_Destiny has made you weak._

_Destiny has made all of us weak._

_**Kuso- Damn**_

_**Jigoku e no chikuso- Damn it all to hell!**_

_**I liked how this chapter turned out. I apologize for any errors. I was in a hurry to get this out, and I neglected to spell-check. I'll do better on the next chapter, though. I promise!**_


	2. You Might Just Be Running Out Of Time

"Chiru, get up! You're going to be late!"

Chiru groaned and buried her head deeper in her pillow. Her sister was already gone, working her shift at the hospital, but Chiru had relaxed around until ten and tried to get more sleep.

"Don't make me get the cold water!"

Chiru bolt upright, throwing off the blankets and tumbling off her bed. "I'm up, Mother! I'm up!" She made quick pace to throw on her clothes and Jounin jacket. After carefully typing her Hiatai-aite around her neck, she stumbled down the stairs, blinking sleep out of her eyes. Her mother had graciously set out a Tamagoyoki and a small bowl of steamed rice for Chiru.

Anzu didn't turn when she heard her eldest daughters heavy, tired footsteps enter the room, but asked kindly, "Did you sleep well?"

Chiru stared at her mother, the one in a sky blue apron and grey dress, the one cooking herself a Tamagoyoki with such ease and wondered if she was telepathic. She dismissed this as ridiculous quickly. Her mother asked this every morning. "Yes, Mother. I slept fine, thank you." She lied easily.

She didn't fall back asleep after the nightmare. She had gotten maybe three or four hours of sleep, mostly from when she was having a nightmare. Not only had she cried in front of her sister, which was bad enough, (She had to set an example!) But the words of Neji bounced off the corners of her skull, as did the image of a defenseless, trapped Chiru chained against a caged bird seal. All she could bring herself to do was stare at the wall and try to banish the echoing words of the younger Hyuuga and the image of slavery. _Destiny made you weak._

"That's good, dear. I could've sworn I heard tossing and turning, but maybe it was maybe it was my imagination. Now eat, eat. You have training to do and you've gotten a late start."

Chiru did as her mother told and gobbled down her breakfast at break-neck speed. Stashing her dish in the sink and wiping her mouth, she yanked open the paper door and tumbled out of it. "Bye, Mother! I'll be back…sometime!" She yelled at her mother. Chiru didn't honestly know what time she came back. She just one of those Kunoichi who didn't have a set plan for anything. Does it when it came to mind, then have something else come to mind and do that. Missions and training was probably the only thing that was as steady as eating or breathing in her life. But that didn't include Tokuma, not at all. He had been steady since they were nine.

Anzu honestly knew that her daughter probably wouldn't come back until dinner time. She sighed. "Gosh, why is she so much like you, Hiroshi?" She asked the sky. She could feel her deceased husbands' sly chuckle and wink.

"Why won't it work, dammit? Why won't you break?" She yelled screamed at it. It was silent, only facing her with coolness. She pounded away at it pathetically with her fists. "What do you mean my father had the same problems?"

It was silent, but Chiru could see a ghost of a smirk.

"STOP MOCKING ME!" She shrieked at the infamous Iwagakure rock, pointing an accusing finger. "You son of a—," She started, watching as the dark, featureless rock did nothing but sit there. _Crumble into dust, already!_

"Ooohh, potty mouth." She heard someone tease behind her. A shiver ran up her spine. She hated it when people snuck up on her.

"I thought I told you to stop sneaking up on me!" She yelled at a culpable Tokuma Hyuuga. He crossed his arms and smiled. "Gomen. I just couldn't help myself. You were so preoccupied at yelling at…," he leaned sideways to get a good look at exactly what she was yelling at. "…that rock there."

"It's a devil spawn, okay?" She retorted , pushing the heavy rock into the Hyuuga training storage. Tokuma sighed and rolled his eyes and she pushed the door shut. Sensing she had a bad night, "Come on, get up here." He bent over and motioned towards his back. Chiru silently climbed on his back, dominating the familiar, comfortable spot. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed his eyes. "Had a long day?" Tokuma asked, heading off towards Kohona, hands securely under Chiru's legs.

"You have no idea."

Kohona was busy with the sunset rush. People rushed to stores and back to their homes after a long day at work. Many people stopped to stare at the Jounin couple walking through town, the male piggy-backing on the female . They noticed they were Hyuuga, and then dismissed it immediately. The Hyuuga were a weird bunch. People stopped trying to figure out the crazy Hyuugas a long time ago.

Chiru seemed to be asleep. Tokuma glanced at her with worried eyes, noting the dark circles under her eyes and the way her thin, curved eyebrow crumpled in pain or fear. Maybe even discomfort. Just to be sure, Tokuma adjusted her on his back.

Decided his wallet could probably survive it, he took an immediate turn to Southern Soup, Chiru's favorite restaurant. It was a server of mainly one-pot meals, Chiru's favorite type of food. It was in the northeast section of Kohona, which was the business section of Kohona. Southern Soup was decorated in soft shades of gold and cherry blossom pink, with a large sweeping deck and light, polished tables. Chiru and Tokuma went there often. It was a nice place to go; not as rambunctious as where most Jounin hung out (trust him, that was a mad-house) and not too quiet. It was a family restaurant, mainly with little children and new couples. Sure, Tokuma and Chiru looked a bit, well, suspicious to be seen there as often as they were, but hey, that was okay. He liked it, she liked it, and so what difference did it make?

"Tokuma-san, what are you doing?" Tokuma turned, careful not to wake the sleeping Jounin on his back. His direct cousin, Ko, was staring back at him with a curious look. "Chiru looked troubled, so I figured I should take her out."

"Why?"

"It's what friends do, Ko. What are you doing? Shouldn't you be with Lady Hinata?" Ko crossed his arms. "No, she's training with her team for the Chuunin Exams." He shot a suspicious look at Chiru and Tokuma.

Ko was a little bit biased, especially towards the Branch family members and the Jinchurriki, but besides that, he was kind. Suspicious and one heck of a worry-wart, but he was okay. His good and bad traits balanced out.

_Are two friends going out to eat so bad_? Tokuma thought as Ko kept staring at Chiru. Tokuma rearranged Chiru again and cleared his throat a bit, to know that Tokuma could plainly see Ko staring at Chiru.

_He's staring at __**your**__ Chiru,_ a small possessive part of him whispered. He ignored it.

"Well, Ko… we have to go, before all the good tables are taken. I'll see you later, okay?" Ko didn't reply, gears turning furiously in his head as his gaze flickered in-between Chiru and Tokuma. Light began to brighten in his eyes as he gawped at them. "Ko? You okay?" Tokuma asked nervously.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. See ya later…," He started to retreat, passing by Tokuma breezily with a far-away look in his eyes. With only a raise of his eyebrows, Tokuma continued towards Southern Soup. "Oh, Tokuma?"

Tokuma turned.

"You just might be running out of time." This was only what Ko said to him before stuffing his hands in his pockets and disappearing in the crowd. Tokuma stared after his cousin, eyebrow jumping up and down like it always did when he was freaked out. "I always knew Ko was kind of crazy…," He said to no-one in particular.

"But this is just down-right ridiculous."

Chiru poked at her food, struggling to keep her eyes open. It was really hard for her to be tired, fall asleep and be expected to be anything other than be a vegetable after waking up. "Ah, come on, Chiru. Don't tell me I got this," Tokuma pointed at the fresh purple bruise on his face, "For nothing."  
>"I told you I was sorry. You know you don't touch me when I'm sleeping, you wake me up <em>without <em>direct contact." Chiru mumbled tiredly, rubbing her eyes. "Just eat." Tokuma commanded, pointing at her food with his chopsticks. Annoyed, he stuffed his cheeks with Mizutaki, slumping in his chair. As a way to apologize, Chiru took a dainty bite of her own serving of Mizutaki. "Thank you for the food."

"Nur Necholm." Tokuma sputtered. He swallowed and corrected himself, "You're welcome."

Chiru ignored his bad table manners. It wasn't like she had any real noticeable manners, either. So she started on a different topic other than the welt on Tokuma's cheek or the food in front of her.

"Did you hear? The Chuunin exams are being hosted at Kohona this year."

_That_ grabbed Tokuma's interest. "Whoa, really?" Tokuma had a strange obsession with Chuunin exams. Well, it wasn't _quite_ extreme enough to be called an obsession, but just barely. He kept track of precisely where each Chuunin Exam was held and bugged every inspector in a subtle way about the tests. He had stopped the last bit after Anko Mitarashi made some very scary threats in his ear, involving ropes, snakes, and roasting pigs over tree leaves. Though he didn't admit it, he'd woken up in a cold sweat for a few weeks afterwards.

"Yeah. I'd think you of all people would know."

Tokuma looked to the right, sheepish. "I had some... last minute opinions when it comes to that." Chiru didn't have the heart to tell him that he knew Anko scared the living Byakuugan out of him and she knew it.

"Uh, Okay. But, do you think we'll be chosen to be inspectors this year 'round?" Chiru asked him, eye twitching in guilt. Tokuma stayed oblivious to this and picked at his food, pouting. "I sure hope so. There's supposed to be a really, really good batch of Genin this year."

An empty bowl hit him on the cheek, right where his bruise was. "Ow! _Screw—_," He saw the dirty look the occupants of Southern Soup were giving him. He stopped immediately.

"I did not mean _just_ Neji-san, Chiru. They got a whole batch of good ones, this year. Geez." He tenderly rubbed the raw bruise. "I know you don't like N-,"

"Don't say it."

Tokuma stopped rubbing his bruise and sent a surprised glance at his best friend. His eyebrows went as he answered, "Say what? Ne-,"

"I said don't say it!"

Chiru leaned on her clenched fist, eyebrows furrowed in anger. Her mouth was set in a stubborn, displeased scowl. He pointed a finger at him, and for some odd reason Tokuma noticed how her fingernails were round and well-taken care of. "Tokuma, I said don't say it. What part of 'don't say it' do you not understand?" Chiru growled. Her cuticles were undamaged and perfect.

Tokuma tore his eyes away from her fingers— did he have a fetish for fingers? — and mumbled intelligently, "Uhh, what?"

"Whatever. Doesn't matter now."

"Okay, but why can't I say it?" Dammit, his eyes were back on Chiru's fingers again, this time gliding up her arm, past her shoulders and over her torso. He took in her waist, made thick by the Jounin jacket, and the curve of her hips. What the hell? After twelve years, _now_ the hormones kick in? Though he was ashamed to say it, his eyes briefly scanned Chiru's Hyuuga-sized breasts for a long few moments before settling on her neck.

"I've come to hate you-know-who more than forgivable. The last encounter was just... ugh. I mean, he's— Tokuma? Tokuma?" Chiru crossed her arms, (damn his inner pervert) making her breasts bounce delightfully. Tokuma's perverted eyes locked on them, and he let out a small oafish, "Huh?" to whatever had come out of her mouth.

"My eyes are. Up. Here." Chiru pointed to her face, annoyed. There he goes again, staring at her cursed fingers. Yeah, yeah, I know your eyes are up there—

Wait. What?

His eyes ripped away from Chiru's fingers and back up at her face, the one place on her body he hadn't been looking at. She wore an amused/annoyed smirk on her face, fingers curled around the side of her face. Her eyes were half-lidded (attractively? Is the only thing Tokuma could think about her eyes.) as she mused teasingly, "I didn't think you were that type of guy, to stare at the boobs instead of the face."

Tokuma's face rivaled that of a strawberry. The last time he had gotten caught— yes, he did stare at boobs every now and then, what, did you think he was a asexual angel?— he had been thirteen. And the lady was luckily his mellow teammate, who had big jugs are the time. All Akane told him was to make sure you didn't get caught, because most girls would tell you their eyes were on their face.

Like Chiru had just did.

"O-oh, n-no... I just saw... um... uh... I saw a... ohm, odd spot on your neck... So I was, uh, investigating from a distance?" Tokuma was a pretty good liar, but it hard to cover up staring at a woman's chestYou were either staring at it, or you weren't.

Chiru's smirk widened and her right eyebrow went up.

Seeing his defeat, Tokuma's redness level sky-rocketed. He mumbled, "Fine, I was staring at your boo- uh, breasts."  
>"Pardon? I didn't hear you."<p>

"I was staring at your breasts." Tokuma said, a little bit louder. "Still can't hear it."

"I said I was staring at your boobs!" He nearly yelled, leaving the restaurant to turn and send sharpened Kunai's at him with their eyes. Chiru laughed heartily as Tokuma covered his head, expecting pain. "I'm—," laughter. Booming, life-draining laughter, "Not going to—," The laughter had dwindled to body-racking giggles. "Hurt you!"

She burst into rib-cracking hysterics, doubling up in an effort to stop. Tokuma uncovered his head. "What?" He asked, clueless. "What's so funny?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but merely thinking of it made her laugh harder. She fell off the seat with a thud, but the pain didn't faze her. If anything, she laughed harder.

Tokuma looked at the glaring faces around him, the curious children, the aggravated elderly. "Chiru," he started. "Stop. You're making a scene."

Chiru didn't stop.

"Chiru. Stop." Tokuma tried again.

Still rolling on the floor with her sides splitting.

"Chiru!" Tokuma snapped.

A tall, brunette waiter approached him. "Sir, you and your girlfriend are distracting the customers. I must ask you to pay your bill and leave."

Tokuma sighed and dug in his wallet, hanging his head low. "I'm so sorry. And, she isn't my girlfriend. I apologize for any inconvenience." He handed the waiter a small wad of money. He dragged his feet to stand in front of Chiru. "Chiru, stop, get up, and let's go." He ordered sternly. Chiru either ignored him or didn't hear. Her giggles were quieting now, but she still sat on the floor, upright. Tokuma heaved a sigh and seized Chiru from under her armpits, dragging her laughing body out of the store.

**There. Yep, this is a filler, yes, this story has no definite plot, mostly just the telling of a Hyuuga's life, and YES I want you to say if you guys thought this was too short.**

** Give a big thanks to HinataWeasly789. Her review was amazing and it encouraged me to do Chapter Two, and make it as un-crappy as I could without taking four days checking it over. I hope to hear from her again, and I hope this chapter pleases her. I threw in Ko JUST FOR HER, because I find it ridiculous that no one actually put any Tokuma or Ko fics in there, though I know for a fact there are tons about the twins, Hizashi and Hiashi. I'm honored to be the FIRST and ONLY person so far to focus on the smaller characters like Ko or Tokuma. I apologize if Ko or Tokuma aren't as you imagined it, but their personalities on Narutopedia were noon-existent or so un-detailed I had barely anything to work off of. So I made Ko biased, due to him telling Hinata to stay away from Naruto, and suspicious just to back up his thoughts.**

**BUT WHAT ARE HIS THOUGHTS? WHAT DOES HIS MYSTERIOUS LINE MEAN? WHAT IF I'M JUST OUT OF MY ROCKER AND WROTE DOWN SOME MEANINGLESS CRAP?**

**I'll update as soon as I get inspiration, mmkay? I hate writing on writers block. Oh, and guys, review on my descriptive writing. What can I work on? What do I suck at? WHAT DID I DO RIGHT (if anything). I'm working REALLYYY hard on descriptive writing, and I want to know if I'm making any progress. And, yes, I use Caps instead of italics on my ANs. Partly because I'm lazy, partly because I want to piss off my keyboarding teacher. Sorry, Mrs. Gunter.**

**Fly,**

** Aviandra**


	3. Enter Kaori, Kazou and Kazuki Sazaki!

"Chiru, Tokuma. What're you doing back so early? I was expecting you guys to be back at eleven."

Anzu cleaned her hands on her dish wash before raising an eyebrow at the two young adults. Tokuma seemed very annoyed, having dragged Chiru in. Chiru, on the other hand, seemed very giggly and upbeat. She was quietly laughing, and then cackling like a madman. Then her laughter would quiet to a barely-suppressed giggle again. Anzu had seen her daughter like this a few times, and even now, it scared her. Chiru's instability was troubling.

"Chiru got us kicked out of Southern Soup," Tokuma answered, eyebrow twitching at the idea.

Chiru laughed harder, her small body quivering with giggles and guffaws.

"Oh, Nii-chan…," Sibai murmured over her china bowl of steamed rice and BBQ. She seemed to have just gotten back from work, still in her uniform. Sibai leaned on her hand and sighed painfully. Tokuma jerked up his best friend into bridal style, an absolute . "What do I do? I've been listening to her laughing all the way through Kohona. It's like she's lost her sanity or something."

"You can't lose something you've never had!" Chiru managed through her giggles, before laughing like witch again. "Ooh! Tokuma, such a bad boy! Staring at my boobs! How naughty, and just when I was starting to believe you were asexual! You even used the door, which shows you lack imagination!" Chiru made a spreading sign with her hands, letting a asylum-worth, "Oooohh, Imaginatinon," pass her lips before laughing like a madman again. Tokuma, looking helpless, turned red and held her out. _Help_, his expression read.

Anzu tapped her chin a few times, thinking. Suddenly, she smiled and crossed her arms. "Just set her to bed, she'll be out in seconds," Anzu replied happily, returning to the dishes. "B-but, there's no way she'll go to sleep with how hyper she is—," Tokuma started to protest.

"Oh, don't worry. Something weird happens with Chiru when she's tired. It's like her body releases stored sugar just to keep her running. _Now put her to bed, Tokuma_."

Anzu could be very daunting when she wanted too be. With a gulp, Tokuma nodded stiffly. "Yes, Ma'am," he said more bravely than he felt. He followed orders without hesitation.

He walked through the corridor and took the second door on the right, which he knew was her and Sibai's room. He slid the door open with difficulty, having his both of his hands occupied with Chiru. Chiru giggled at his difficultly and squirmed in his hands, successfully making it harder to open the door.

When he finally managed to slide open the paper door, he hurried over to the bed. The bedroom was undecorated; no surprise, really. The walls were the same creamy white walls of every other low-class Hyuuga, the floors the muddy brown of every other low-class Hyuuga. However, the personal touches made it special.

The dresser sat to the left of the door. With four drawers, there was two for Chiru and two for Sibai. However, their belongings were scattered all over the top, too. There was a picture of Chiru and her team, smiling with each other's hands wrapped around each other's necks and broad beams on their face like they were the freest things in the world. Hizashi Hyuuga stood above them, flashing thumbs up towards them. There was also Sibai's team, with them in a dog-pile, their poor sensei on the bottom. A small jar of coins sat in between them, stuffed with Yen, with even more pictures beside it. There was a picture of Anzu and Sibai, napping over a book they had read. Chiru was sweating like crazy and had multiple bruises all over her face in this one, but in big characters it read at the bottom: MASTERED! She was giving a peace sign, holding a scroll in the other hand. She looked elated.

Their bed as special in its own right, also. The half nearest to the wall was clothed with Navy blue sheets, messy and out of order. The other half had a light yellow and tan combo, made up neatly without a crease or crinkle. The Navy Side belonged to Chiru, as it was her favorite color ("God cannot even surpass Navy Blue!" Chiru said at the Academy introductions.) and the yellow and tan side belonged to Sibai. Under closer examination, there was the teddy bear Tokuma had given Chiru at the Sakura festival eleven years ago.

Tokuma set Chiru on her side of the bed and tucked her in, making sure she wasn't too cold. Astonishing enough, she was out within moments. "It really must've been a long night," Tokuma noted with a shrug. He started to leave, hand firmly on thedoor, but a certain picture on the wall caught his eye.

Tokuma crept closer and examined the picture. It wasn't one of those small picture frames, but a fairly big one. It looked like a collage, actually. But that wasn't what made his shake his head and chuckle.

It was a collage of Tokuma and Chiru. It seemed to be a collection of pictures over the years, ranging from their Academy days to the recent Jounin Exam. _Chiru and I on our first mission, Chiru and I sparring, Chiru and I playing tag, Chiru and I posing with our Chuunin Jackets—_

What's this?

Tokuma doesn't remember this picture. It was their early Chuunin days, when they were so overloaded with missions and paperwork they often sat more than walked. The sun was setting in the training grounds, where Chiru and Tokuma had evidently been training. Unmistakably, they were mastering something new, because there were piles of unwound scrolls everywhere.

Chiru and Tokuma were out cold against the Tai Jutsu log, heads leaning on each other. Tokuma found himself smiling. He was so _short_ back then. Even Chiru was taller than him, and that was saying a lot. Now he towered two feet above her, but that was beside the point.

"Mom took that picture, you know," Sibai said from the doorway, interrupting his thoughts. He turned to face her, a serene look in both of their eyes. Tokuma saw the composed faces of the other Hyuuga echoed in her own individual features. "She was getting worried so she came to check up on you two. This is what she saw. So she ran home squealing, grabbed her camera and took a picture."

Tokuma had a hard time imagining Anzu, the housewife, run squealing.

Sibai looked amused as she leaned against the doorway. Bags rode under her eyes from obvious Chakra exhaustion, but she looked happy nonetheless. There must've been a big, life-saving operation she had taken part in. She took off her Chuunin jacket and hung it on the bed post before smiling at Tokuma, "Goodnight Tokuma. Sleep well."

Tokuma took this as his sign to leave. He exited, leaving Sibai to rest in peace. As he left, he expected Anzu to be still drying dishes. But instead, there were clean, plain white dishes air-drying by the sink. The sink made a steady drip in the darkness and uncertainiy of the living room. Tokuma sighed and left, locking the door from the inside on his way out.

"What a typical day. I ended carrying Chiru home, again."

It was a good day for the hot spring. It wasn't too hot, nor was it too cold. It was a cloudy overdraft; just wet enough to declare it a lazy day. _And indeed it was a lazy day_, decided Chiru. I _should go the onsen and relax_, _try to bathe all this extra sleep off. _Nothing will bother me today, nuh-uh! Today will be the perfect day. And it was.

Chiru wanted to say she relaxed all day and went home happy and content and nothing bothered her at all, especially like a single mother in a dire need of assistance.

But she can't.

She had barely been in the onsen for fifteen minutes before Kaori Sazaki came in, her little boys attached to her arms. Kaori was Chiru's personal nurse, who had attended to her while she was at the hospital for routine check-ups on her crown chakra. Kaori and Chiru had become good friends, despite the ten-year age difference.

Kaori looked utterly exhausted. Her little boys, Kazuki and Kazuo, were jabbering on about something insignificant. Kaori mumbled, "Uh huh, uh huh. Oh, that's so nice Kazuki… oh wait, you're Kazuo,"

Chiru swam over to her long-time friend and aunt-figure, leaning on the edge when she tiredly stepped in. "Hello, Kaori-chan. You look a little tired."

Kaori seemed to melt into the hotspring as she stepped in. She considered Chirus comment for a moment before gushing uncontrollably, face turning red from passion, "Oh my, Chiru! You have _no_ idea! Ever since Keiichi split, it's been complete _havoc!_"

Keiichi was Kaori's late husband. He found a woman not so child-worn and was never seen since. Kaori hadn't particular mourned long, neither had the rest of the population. Keiichi had been an ass. Kaori had admitted to feeling sorry for the girl he ran off with. "Poor girl," she had said.

Chiru raised her eyebrows, sympathetic from memories of a clingy, loud, and annoying Sibai. She crossed her arms over the edge of the onsen and leaned on then. "Oh? What do you mean, Kaori-san?"

Kaori sent a glance over to her rampant kids, who were currently terrorizing the other relaxing individuals of the hot spring. "Kazuki, Kazuo! Stop annoying other women and behave!" Kaori shouted at them. The brothers stuck out their tongues and continued wrestling. Kaori sighed, antagonized, and turned to Chiru. "I just don't know what to do," she cried. "No matter what punishment I enforce or how I treat them, they're always so… energetic! But they aren't old enough to burn all that energy in the Academy, yet, either!"

Kaori squirmed where she sat and sunk lower into the water. "To make it even worse, I have to do so many errands tomorrow. I don't have money for the babysitter, either. Even if she did quit."

Chiru blinked and moved her position again. She relaxed against the edge, arms securely holding her up. She bit her lip in thought, sending a few indecisive glances at Kaori. Exhausted was not the word that fit the mother. She worked long shifts at the hospital, sometimes even two, to provide for her family; Hospital pay wasn't very much. To make it worse, she had two hyperactive boys who had no father figure in their life and enough energy for eight Genin.

Chiru grabbed her towel and stood, wrapping it securely around her body and stepping out of the water. "Hey, Kaori, why don't I watch the children tomorrow, discipline them the way I disciplined my sister," She started, turning towards her friend.

Kaori put a hand on her cheek, thinking. "Yes, yes. But I can't pay you much—,"

"No, no. I won't accept your money."

Suddenly, the spawns of the devil themselves ran up to her, excited. "Ready, Kazuo?" The taller one asked. The smaller one grinned and gave thumbs up. "Now, Kazuki!" The brother reached towards Chiru and tore off her towel, leaving her nude.

Chiru squeaked and froze. "Whoa, Onii-tan," Kazuo squealed. He pointed at Chiru's bare breasts, face brightening with young curiosity and enchantment. "There are huge balloons on her chest! And they're so _shiny_!" Kazuo glomped her and started rubbing her face in her breasts. "Shiny balloons, shiny balloons."

"Don't be a Baka, Kazuo! Those are boobs, and, boy, they are big! Like all Hyuuga!" Kazuki face drowned in red. His hands made lifting motions as he drooled. Chiru's eyebrows could only twitch, a cross between angry and down-right annoyed. "K-Kuso!" She screamed, grabbing Kazuo's wrists and flinging him into the hot spring. She quickly hitched up her towel, and tucked it into a secure position. She turned onto Kazuki and grumbled darkly, a dark red aura surrounding her. It had never been quite that extreme since Tokuma walked into the changing room taking pictures.

Far away, on a mission, Tokuma Hyuuga sneezed. "Yo, somethin' up, Tokum'?" Hana Inuzuka asked, hand on hips. "Nah, it's probably just someone remembering the picture incident."

"Ah."

"Kazuki…," Chiru Hyuuga rumbled an unsaid threat in her throat. The boy, probably around nine, opened his eyes wide and shivered. Without a word, she stealthily approached him. With methodical movements, she stepped towards Kazuki. He panicked and put his arms up, letting Chiru grab secure hold of his sleeve and back of shoulder. In one moment, she had pressed her leg against the back of his. He started to lose his balance, tipping from side to side dangerously. Chiru then took this chance to flip him over dramatically, sending his legs spinning like pinwheels. She yelled, as was tradition, "Osoto Guruma!"

Kazuki was barreled into the ground. He let out a gasp, as was expected. He was not acquainted with Judo, so he did not know to perform a side break fall, as it was best for this technique.

Everyone seemed to freeze. Kazuo, who was being helped out of the water by Kaori, stared incredulously at his older brother, mouth agape. Kaori seemed flabbergasted by the way Chiru handled Kazuki. The rest of the females, a mixture of Kunoichi and Common Folk, gasped at the merciless consequences.

Kazuki let out a hiss as he struggled up on one elbow. His face was red from pain, his teeth gritted, one eye sequenced closed. He obviously wanted to cry, but he bluntly wouldn't, by the looks of it. "Are you going to cry, Kazuki?" Chiru asked coldly. She placed her hands on her waist, waiting for his reply.

"Hello no! I will be the best Shinobi ever, and Shinobi don't cry!" He screamed defiantly. Chiru's eyebrows dropped low, and Kazuki flinched.

Suddenly in a more joyful mood, Chiru flew around the face Kaori. "Well, Kaori, see you tomorrow!" She said happily, standing akimbo. With a two fingered salute, she raced out into the changing rooms.

"What a crazy old hag," Kazuki muttered, rubbing his head tenderly. He looked at his hand, surprised to see a clean, tanned hand, instead of crimson blood like he expected. He shakily stood up, stumbling. After a few moments, he tested his balance by feeling around with his foot. When he was positive he could stay upright, Kazuki stood upright and glared at the changing rooms. "Bitch."

Amazingly, the Kunoichi population in the onsen laughed. An ordinary Kunoichi said to a red-haired Kunoichi. "Oh, wow, Aiko! That was amazing!"

"Yeah, yeah! I haven't seen something that entertaining since… well, never!" Aiko replied.

Kazuki turned on them, furious. "Shut up! That wasn't funny!"

The woman who had said it was amazing stepped out of the bath, securely wrapping the towel around her well-developed body. "Hey, hey. That was Chiru Hyuuga, a Judo master and someone who could've killed you with only that if she wanted too. She went easy on you, kid," She crossed her arms and tossed her nose up, defiant. "If you ask me, kid, you deserved it. It was about time someone taught some manners."

She walked out of the same door as Chiru had.

"That lady went easy on me," Kazuki mumbled to himself, amazed. He rubbed his bruised side, skeptical.

"That lady was a bitch."

**Heh, heh, heh. I liked this one. I really, really liked it. I was going to tie the babysitting thing in there, but I decided not to. This was a perfect intro for the Babysitter Arc, and, besides, I want to span the babysitting thing into at least two chapters.**

**Again, another encouraging review from HinataWeasly789! Dango for you!**

** Yes, by the way, I did really pick out that Judo move. Though I don't study Judo, I have a book and I hope to train in it. I understand the movements in there, and how it works. You guys should try it.**

**I don't own Naruto or anything else in here, except the plot and the following characters: Chiru, Sibai, Anzu, Kazuki, Keiichi, and Kazuo. I hope you guys look forward to the next one, though it might take a while. I'm looking for entertaining babysitter stories from everyone, including my teachers, but so far, I have only come up with enough for a few events in a large spider web.**

**Fly,**

**Aviandra**


	4. And Not a Single Fuck was Given, Witch

Kazuki sighed in contempt and threw the tennis ball against the wall again. It bounced off with a small thunk, and it happily launched itself right into his palm.

_Today we're are getting a new babysitter. Oh joy._ He thought, hitching the ball out of his reach again. It violently attacked the dull green wall. His fawn brown eyes tracked it effortlessly, never losing track of one single movement.

_Thunk._

_Whap._

_Whoop._

The ball made these odd sounds as it traveled. Maybe it was enjoying it, maybe it wasn't. Kazuki didn't enjoy many things except the sweetest candies and of, course, pranks. His mouth grew into a crooked, content grin as he added in his mind:_ Especially the ones that involve pretty ladies._

The memories of his last prank flooded his mind like dam water escaping. With a scowl, he rubbed his tender head and back, where purple bruises had appeared moments after that… that…_ witch_ had thrown him onto the ground as his punishment. It hurt; it hurt more than he would've expected it too. He was sure it would've hurt less if he had endurance training, the kind they gave in the Academy. He had been begging his mother to enroll him in the Academy, but she had said…

"You can't do anything until you clean up your act." He mimicked in the perfect tone, his face twisting into something ugly.

"I can't clean up my act because it's not dirty. I haven't hurt anyone, or stolen anything. Geez," Kazuki replied to himself, pitching the ball again.

The sun was at its worst angle, shining at the right degree to filter through the only window in Kazuki's window. Everyone hated this angle. It always shone through the window around eight A.M, which was both bad and good. It made sure Kazuki got up for breakfast, but it also guaranteed that he would wake up on the days he didn't want to wake up. Luckily, those days were rare, and Kazuki was usually thankful for the sun.

But he certainly was not now.

The position he was sitting, with his back against his headboard and his head lazily leaned back, let the light filter through the window right onto his face, or more specifically, his eyes. The suns radiant waves burned his eyes, and Kazuki's puils retracted in shock. Kazuki let out a cry and covered up his eyes, squeezing the nearest eye closed and peeking through his fingers. He uncovered his eyes and tried to adjust. Without warning, the ball rebounded and hit him square in the nose.

Kazuki groaned and flailed, falling out of bed with a thump. He moaned from the floor and rubbed his tender head. "Kazuki! Are you finally awake?" His mother called from outside the door. There was sweet, gentle rapping on his door. Before he could even get around to welcoming her in, Kaori had poked her head through and asked, "Are you dressed?"

Still upside down, Kazuki huffed and crossed his arms. He was in black shorts and a grey tank-top with the Kohona insignia embedded in its surface. Though he usually wore grey and red, this was his sleepwear. "No, mom. I don't want to get dressed. The babysitter is probably a bi—," Kazuki started, swiveling his head to face the wall. He gave the harmless barrier a glower. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out what she would say next.

"I will not have that language in my house! The babysitter is a very strong and willful woman, and I demand you respect her! Now get dressed." Kaori ordered. Kazuki murmured the words along with her, adding an over-exaggerated hair-flip (or what could classify was one) and a talking hand puppet when she turned. The door slammed behind her, and Kazuki was grateful she closed the door. He hated seeing her face when it was angry. It had this utter determination under its skin, but Kazuki was smarter than he let on.

He knew helplessness was beginning to surface. He was winning the war, battle by battle.

Kazuki heaved his body sideways, falling further to the floor. He hit his sore side on contact. "Ow," he said, also it didn't hurt that much. Grudgingly following his mothers orders, he flung open a drawer and searched through it, thumbing through neatly folded clothes. He finally decided on a maroon shirt with one midnight stripe across the midsection, with three dark slashes on the sleeves. He grabbed his Khaki shorts while he was at it, because too much black was just overrated in such a hot environment. How some of these Shinobi walked around bundled up as much as they were, he didn't know. He had seen a kid wearing an orange jumpsuit, once. Not only was a jumpsuit going to be insanely hot, but it was like sticking lime green in a field of pink.

He was practically begging to buried.

As Kazuki put his hand on his doorknob, he had the itching feeling he was forgetting something. Kazuki had this feeling often and went through the typical routine: Pants? Check. Undies? Check. Shirt? Check. Undershirt? Check.

His hands wandered to his head, patting his blonde hair curiously. "Ah, that's what it is." Kazuki realized. He stood on his tiptoes and swept his hand over the top of the dresser, feeling for that familiar fabric. The soft cloth touched his fingers, and Kazuki snatched it off the dresser and pulled it on his head. The Khaki flat hat was the final touch, and the bugging of forgetfulness evaporated from his stomach. With a feeling of fulfillment, Kazuki reached towards the door, the first blossoms of a plan already forming in his mind. _How do I get rid of that babysitter? _He walked, ready to investigate his 'higher-up'.

"Oh, Chiru-chan! Thank you, thank you, and thank you! I'm so busy today, oh so busy! You have to work such long hours, too," Kaori gushed, welcoming the new babysitter into the house. Kazuki paused at the curve of the apartment hallway, listening carefully.

"Oh, it's not a trouble, Kaori, not at all. It's not like I have anything to do all day, anyway," The babysitter replied in a sickingly familiar voice. Kazuki's heart froze and his hand wandered to the right of his mid-back, rubbing the stressed body. It was that witch! Kazuki poked his head around the corner, carefully examining his executioner.

She wasn't naked this time, although, as Kazuki looked at her, he wished she was. In clothes, she looked much more threatening. He wished he had seen her inner evil when he de-toweled her. She wore a navy blue spandex shirt, cut to a V-neck. There was a white chain with a small symbol of fire attached hanging around her neck. Half of the choker was stuck under her shirt. Her hands were stuffed in her cargo pockets, and her legs bent lazily. Kazuki noticed, however, that her back was perfectly straight instead of slumped like the lazy drunkards he had seen around town. Kazuki felt something stir inside him. It yelled in his brain, _something isn't right about her! What is it? What is it?_

_**Eh, shut up. She's probably only half-lazy.**_

This stranger, this_ Chiru_ creature, was smirking slightly to herself. She nodded at something Kaori had said— they obviously knew each other by some way— and smiled at Kazuo, who was hiding behind his mother legs. She offered him a hand, but when he refused to shake it, Chiru looked curious for a few moments. Then she gasped and asked Kazuo something, holding up one finger in an 'Oh!' kind of way. Whatever Chiru had said— Kazuki was too distracted by what they were doing rather than the words itself— made Kazuo nod shyly. Chiru ravaged her pockets, all four of them, until she found what she was looking for. Finally, she found it the fourth and final pocket, before taking out the wrapped good and setting it in Kazuo's waiting palm.

Kazuo laughed and unwrapped the candy, popping it in his mouth without hesitation. He swished it around his mouth and sucked on the sweet, hugging Chiru in thanks before running off to do whatever he was doing before Chiru came to the door.

Kazuki retreated and leaned against the wall, his mouth twisting into a grimace and crossing his arms huffily. "Traitor," he whispered, although he knew Kazuo couldn't see nor hear him. But, Chiru couldn't either, and that was the point.

"Ah, where's my eldest? I told him to get dressed fifteen minutes ago," Kaori said suddenly, swishing her head everywhere to look for the demon spawn. "Oh, he's dressed. He's eavesdropping on the wall over there. He thinks I can't see him."

Kazuki's breath screeched to a stop in his chest. He could imagine his mother rolling her eyes and putting her hand on her hip. "Kazuki, come out! Now!"

With ill will, Kazuki stepped out of the shadows. He snorted and looked at the wall.

"Now, introduce yourself to the babysitter, Chiru Hyuuga."

This is where Kazuki drew the line. "Hell no, bi-," Chiru had him in an arm lock faster than he could blink. "Don't call family that," she warned in his ear. Kazuki gulped, but he wouldn't give up just yet. Not yet, not when he was so close. He was silent until Chiru let him go. He rubbed his abused neck and snapped,

"You already know me; there's an indent where you threw me."

"Please. It's barely noticeable."

"Lies!"

Chiru glared straight on at Kazuki, while Kazui sent some very hateful looks towards her general direction. This lasted several seconds. With a sigh, Chiru finally broke eye contact. _I win_. Kazuki thought. "Go on, Kaori. I'll cook them breakfast, you have things to do," She said to Kaori, waving her off with a lazy hand.

"Oh, please do. But, you might have to go shopping; I just haven't found the time for it," Kaori obeyed willingly, creeping towards the door. Her hand was on the knob and was always turning it when she added, "There's a grocery list on the fridge, and the grocery budget money is on top of the fridge, in the jar."

"Don't worry, Kaori. Your fridge will be leaking food by the time you're home." Chiru assured her, hands crossed and a coy smile on her face.

Kaori left, the only evidence of her being there was the hush of a closing door.

As soon as the door had closed, Chiru turned on Kazuki. Her glare was ice cold, her glower was n threatening. "I know you don't like me. And, honestly, I don't like you all that much either. But for about thirteen hours we are going to ignore that and come out of this situation without any incident," She said threateningly, pointing a finger at him as if there was this 'incident' she spoke of was to happen, it would ultimately his fault, "Do you understand?"

_You don't scare me. _Kazuki thought with a narrowing of his eyes. He didn't let it escape his mouth, no. He knew something much, much better. More angering, more annoying…

_A stronger missile in this war._

Kazuki smirked and whirled on his heels, his back facing her. He turned so only one eye was visible (it was all about the effect, the drama) and waved at hand at his side. With a loud smirk on his face, he started narrating as if he was one of his favorite villains in his books: "Kazuki turned and smirked at the witch that was his watcher, than woman who put him in a living hell. He waved his hand at her with a confident glint in his eyes.

'_You vile witch!_

_You evil bitch!_

_You scare me not,_

_I have seen kingdoms crumble and heroes rise._

_You are nothing but a repulsive clot._

_I am unafraid._

_But you, malevolent demon, cannot see._

_How easily you will fall…_

_Because I own it all_.'

Kazuki rhymed with the efficiency and the grace of a god. He turned, and walked away. And not a single fuck was given." He finished with a prideful bow, one hand at his waist and the other held aloft. Chiru was wordless, her legs spread and her arms tight at her side. Kazuki flipped up his hair. Then, in one single movement, he gave his so-called babysitter a two fingered salute before sliding open the nearest window open with ease. He climbed out of the opening, skid down the coffee roof tiles as quickly as sliding across the kitchen in nothing but socks, and crouched at the end. Preparing himself for impact, he jumped off the edge, sending bellows of dust into the air before disappearing around a street corner.

Chiru was flabbergasted. Her mouth hung open as she slowly processed the outrageous show of defiance her responsibility just displayed before escaping into the dawning morning. Slowly, she started to grasp what exactly had happened, from the boy's narration, mediocre poem and…

"Not a single fuck was given?" Chiru asked aloud. She rubbed her chin, intrigued. After a few moments, a grin sprung onto her face, unhesitant. "_And not a single fuck was given_… Damn, I need to start using that. That's pretty goo- oh; I could say that when Tokuma starts to boss me around, that'll teach him!" She snapped her fingers, overwhelmed.

The smile was wiped off her face when kazoo wandered into the kitchen. "Onee-chan? Can you start breakfast? My tummy is angry," he said sweetly, the honey-flavored candy still in his mouth. "Oh, and did Nii-kun leave with his line again? What was it… uhm…," he tapped on his chin, deep in thought.

Before Chiru could even gather her bearings to the point of silencing him, he held his finger in the air. "Oh yeah_! Not a single fuck was given!_ Wasn't that it," he asked her, oblivious to his crime.

Chiru, defeated, slumped. _Today is going to be an interesting day, _she thought.

"Come on, Kazou. I'll make you breakfast," she finally said, straightening and heading to the kitchen. "Oh, can you make Natto?"

"Su-," Chiru started. As she gazed into the fridge, she stopped. Without a word, she snatched the grocery list off the counter and quite a few handfuls of yen. "No, we have to go shopping. First, let's find your brother."

**Gomen, Gomen, Gomen! It took way too long to update. I just couldn't find any inspiration for this chapter! But I have JUST enough to work off of next chapter, or, at least to reach my word limit. (I always make myself have at least 2,000 words.) Oh, and I apologize for the weird way its lining up! I don't know what happened, but I can't fix it. I'll see if I can do something, but nothing is guaranteed. **

** The poem is mine, and yes, I know it sucks. It was spit out in a moment, and it is meant to MEDIOCRE. I mean, come on! He's NINE! (Pretty bad nine-year-old, but still. NINE!)**

**He, heh, heh. Nine! No! Nine! NINE!**

**` Continue to Cause Chaos,**

** Aviandra**


	5. Who is he?

"Savages," Kazuki muttered hatefully, crossing his arms and letting Chiru carry him to the market like a sack of potatoes. He let the word sink into the ever-moving brown path behind him, letting it settle onto his tongue and brain. "I'm surrounded by utter savages." He repeated. Yes, that was it. That was perfect. That described his whole predicament.

Chiru looked down, happy as a dog with two tails, and said in an upbeat, delightful tone, "What was that Kazuki?"

"Nothing!" Kazuki spat out quickly, flinching.

It had not been a good day for Kazuki Sazaki. First, he had been attacked by one of his best friends (tennis ball). Second, he was confronted by a demon who told him off for telling her off. _You don't do that!_ Kazuki thought, his voice cracking. _You_ _accept you've been bested and let me go throw rocks at those egotistical Genin. Duh._ Instead, the pickle-assed fruitpicker came after him like hell was on her heels, dragging his compliant brother with him. She had kicked his ass off that roof, jumped down all ninja-like next to him and grappled his hood like an anchor before swinging him under her arm and carrying like a sack of potatoes. Like a feather-light sack of roots.

The twit.

He had kicked and struggled and cursed. He squirmed like a worm out of its soil, but to no avail. Her hold only grew tighter, if anything. Caught like an exterminator in his own trap, Kazuki could do nothing but cross his arms and take it. His would-be-class mates laughed at his inferiority in this certain situation, and adults— Shinobi and Villagers alike— gawked at him and wondered what he had done that was so horrible he had to be carried.

Well, the main reason he was being carried was his idiot brother, Kazuo.

Kazuki huffed and craned his neck to look at his traitor brother. To think he had given him all his pranking secrets! Only about ten minutes after he left, Kazuki had settled himself on a nice awning to the northeast of the house and was throwing stones at Genin who happened to annoy them; which was practically every Genin. Although most of them were about three years his senior, he wasn't afraid to make them bleed. And make them bleed he did. They had growled and felt the blood on their bodies delicately before shoving some very unkind hand gestures and words Kazuki's way. Kazuki only rolled around and laughed his ass off.

Until the blind badger had to stroll in. Kazuki was 99.99% positive she wouldn't have found him, if it hadn't been for that snitch. His brother had told Chiru within a heartbeat where Kazuki liked to stay. Chiru had rooftop jumped over there, it seemed. Chiru collided into the red-and-white awning with an audible _flop _and effectively sent him tumbling through the air, off the awning, and onto the solid, unforgiving ground. _Right on his old bruises from the day before._ "Shit!" Kazuki had yelped and rolled over, holding his side. The Genin around him laughed— they looked like second-rate amateurs— and approached him, not knowing the Kunoichi above them was there for Kazuki.

Chiru had instead collided on the ground between Kazuki and the Genin. Kazuki had pushed himself to the ground with one arm, the other holding his side. He watched with cringing, as Chiru looked each Genin in the eye. "Back off, he's _mine_," She ordered forcefully, her well known Byakuugan intimidating every cell member. Her voice was low and husky, spilling out promises of pain and misery if they disobeyed. The Genin took a step back, knowing full well what Chiru could, no, _would_; do if they got on her bad side. They turned tail and walked away, too prideful to run.

Chiru turned to him, pearl eyes scanning over him in concern. "Are you okay?" Chiru asked in her typical voice; all the anger from earlier was vanquished. Her gestures were compassionate as she reached out for him with one hand. Her hand was extended out to him: a sign of friendship. "Get away from me; I don't need your help!" Kazuki snapped, embarrassed because A: he was defended by a total bitch. B: This lady was acting like his mom, and C: He would've been perfectly fine on his own. He smacked her pale hand away from him roughly, struggling up himself. As soon as he was able to stand surely, the ache on his back and side intensified. _What the hell is wrong with you? _They chorused.

_You're being complete asses. _Was his reply.

But as soon as he was up, Chiru was looking down on him, amused. "Oh-hoh, little boy thinks he's tough, neh?" She snickered. Kazuki narrowed his eyes in distain. "Big-busted jerk thinks she's scary," he retorted, hands on hips. His pains screeched.

_Shut up. You're not helping. _He reminded them.

Chiru laughed. _Laughed. _Then she cooed out, in a flat, rumbling pigeon type of way, "What fun." There could not be single comeback given, however. Chiru already had him over by the back of the shirt and she was arranging him to fit between her hip and arm. "H-hey!" Kazuki cried out, and he started to squirm. The pains, for once, actually made him stop. It was just too painful for move right now. There was nothing like a fresh bruise being hit again. He then only noticed his brother standing on the roof, hands waving. "Chi-chan! Chi-chan! I knew he was here! I knew he was here!"

_Damn kid._

Currently, The little hell angel was holding the nancy-dicked anushumpers free hand, his blonde hair waving in the soft breeze. He smiled at something the demon spawn said and skipped, jerking her hand. Kazuki bumped at the movement, affectively making his stomach ache. It was both painful and uncomfortable to have some holding you by the stomach. Kazuki flinched and breathed out a curse; he wouldn't let that beluga whale see him in pain. Nuh-uh. No way!

Kazuki ignored the questioning looks the other villagers were giving him and the snickers Genin and older Academy students shared. He ignored it, only because he knew, he knew, one day he would the greatest ninja to ever live and they would be groveling at his feet. They would. On Kazuki's hidden stash of books, they would.

No one, Shinobi or villager, knew about Kazuki's stash of books. He loved reading, he really did. It was nice to see the limits set for you to pass. Ninja books, historic tales, epics, biographies, manuals. He loved them all. He had read each one about eight times; not including a few he had gone back to for reference when he was training. Tale of a Gutsy Ninja, especially, was one of his favorites. He found it in an old bookstore, dusty and decrepit. The bookseller had given it to him for free. The action, the drama, the gore— he drunk it in like the sweetest nectar.

Speaking of nectar, Kazuki was really in the mood for candy. The asswipe had given Kazuo candy, but not him? How rude was that? Where was the justice? Where was the humanity?

Most of all… where was the freaking candy?

Candy escaped Kazuki's mind as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. There was a little blonde girl: perfect curls and chocolate brown eyes. She had on an appealing pink and purple Kimono. She turned to her father, a tall curly man with a dark hair and a stiff atmosphere. "Papa, what's wrong with that boy?"

Her papa turned her away and walked her farther into the market. He replied curtly, "He is a bad boy, Kamiko. He's probably that pest that has been causing those chains of small-time robberies across Kohona. The Hokage is going to take care of him."

"Oh."

Anger boiled up inside of him, hot as a volcano and as violent as a hurricane. Why didn't Kamiko question her father? He didn't do those robberies. He had read about them in the paper, too. He wanted the robber stopped before he got real serious. He was just like everyone else. He wanted justice. Kazuki only wanted to have fun, and that man had assumed he stolen the knickknacks because he was being carried by a Shinobi. Where was the curiosity? Where was the individuality? Where was the trust?

_Why did you so readily accept his word, Kamiko?_

Having enough of Chiru ignoring him and having enough of people staring and having enough of feeling so freaking childish and embarrassed, Kazuki growled. He was ending this, now, whether if he was strong enough or what didn't matter.

Kazuki grit his teeth and struggled against the air tight grip, pressing with all this might against her arm. Chiru faltered, surprised, and Kazuki pressed her arms apart a little farther, nearly enough to slip out of. His muscles and his pains and his bruises and his soul were screaming out in pain, embarrassment, and rage. Slowly, he pushed her arms straight apart, his arms quivering under the sheer ferocity in her grip. He was released, dropped to the ground without warning. He caught himself, stopping in push-up position just in time. Shakily, he stood to his feet, his bruised abdomen and back crying out in pure agony and resentment. He felt her totter behind him, stunned. Finally, he straightened, his legs the wobbliest jelly and his stomach a cavernous fissure. Man, the pain it is going to be to heal this ache.

"Stop. Just… stop." Kazuki said quietly, shaking with fury under all his composed shells. Chiru stared at him, Kazuo peeking from around her side.

"That's enough. Let's just this over with. I won't spend another minute with you then I need too," Kazuki sounded weak, but he wasn't. _Sometimes you just had to rest before you could strike again_, Kazuki thought wearily, _a temporary cease-fire._

He walked silently beside his babysitter, who had just eyed him with an alert eye, chary. Kazuo looked baffled, too. His brother never gave in. His brother was never quiet.

His brother never stopped.

But Kazuki didn't stop. Although he kept his head down and his words were silent, his mind was abuzz with activity. Most of it was self-loathing and the feeling of utter defeat and embarrassment, but one, tiny eager part of Kazuki whispered quietly amidst all the chaos. It was so hushed that if Kazuki hadn't taken a good look around and a rapt ear to listen, he would've missed it. He snuck up to it, careful not to scare it off. It kept whispering powerful words in its small corner of Kazuki's conscious. With a sudden lunge, Kazuki captured the small defiance in his hands. With no hesitation, he held the spec up to his ear to listen.

_I'm the Pariah to something new._

_Where is the brotherhood?_

_I'm not giving in._

_Just wait._

_I am Kazuki Sazaki._

_What's wrong with the world? Suspecting a child of thievery?_

_What happened?_

There was silence. But suddenly, the spec spoke in a deep, resonating voice. All the other squabbling and cried silenced as the godly voice echoes through the featureless, grey area.

_**Where is the love?**_…

It had been two hours since Kazuki "gave in". The shopping had more or less gone without incident. Kazuki walked quietly beside Chiru, staring at the sandy ground beneath his feet. Kazuo skipped beside Chiru, who eyed Kazuki cautiously. She wasn't entirely trustful of his white flag, but she had no evidence besides gut feelings to pin anything on him. So she settled with watching him like a hawk, waiting for his next move, if there was one.

Chiru didn't understand was what going on. One minute Kazuki was struggling, whirling in his her arms like a pinwheel, then _snap_! He suddenly has the strength to push her arms apart and escape. Yet, instead of running, he stayed and said, "Enough." Chiru knew if he had run, she would've been able to catch him. There was a cute little six-year-old by her side and tight schedule to follow. She would've had to let him run. Kazuki could've figured out; she was pretty sure she did. Why didn't he split, then? He certainly hadn't had a split-second change of heart on hating Chiru. What was he thinking?

Chiru carefully inspected Kazuki, his body language and his expressions. Perhaps he was secretly planning something under it all?

Kazuki was an attractive child, she guessed. He had fair ash blonde hair, like his mother, and it feel spicily down to the base of his scalp. It didn't stick up in every direction, luckily. Golden brown framed by bored-looking eyelashes and eyebrow set close to his eyes. His featured were angelic and feminine. Though she would never call him feminine to his face, like how Chiru would never tell Tokuma she knew about his run-in with Anko. His clothes were coordinated and well-chosen: the colors matched well and the colors fitted with the god-forsaken climate. His hat, though, was weird. It was flat and pale, perched on top of his head so unnaturally. Something else belonged up there, not the hat.

Chiru compared him with herself, when she was his age. Gloomy and bitter, Chiru had shunned society and secretly planned everyone suddenly stop lying and doing wrong. She had short hair with bothersome bangs held back by bobby pins; her Caged Bird seal courageously out in the open. Her clothes were drab compared to what she wore now: she had worn a backless navy blue one piece with a white skirt that split up the side. She wore fingerless gloves up to her elbows, though; that added some zest to the equation. Chiru can remember the gloves being the first thing she put on in the morning. She loved them.

Kazuki reminded her of someone.

Chiru glanced at the bag of groceries in one arm with the shopping list pinned to the brown paper. Her lavender eyes scanned over the remaining foodstuffs. She ignored the items checked and processed each character carefully. These groceries would not end up like the ones she had tried to get for her mother a few days earlier.

_Eggs, rice, instant ramen, celery and carrots, eh? _

Chiru looked up and glanced around the outside supermarket. There were stalls set up in neat rows with vendors shouting out their merchandises. They were in the Produce section of the market: mostly filled with the all-natural parts of the food pyramid. She could easily grab some eggs, rice, celery and carrots here, but the instant ramen was a whole different story. The unnatural produce, meaning they were sold on the other side of the marker. Unnatural produce included potato chips, chocolate bars, and such. It would take at least thirty minutes to get all the way there, just for Instant Ramen. No can do, she couldn't walk fast with this handful.

She sent a sly glance at the two brothers, an idea forming in her hand. She had come to a standstill, so Kazuki and Kazuo were forced to stop also. Kazuki's arms were crossed in a displeased way as he stared off across the shopping center. His eyes were furrowed and his head cocked, as if he was in deep thought. He didn't move. He looked older than nine, now that she saw him in such a serious pose and such a thoughtful expression on his face. It was almost as if he was listening to something.

Kazuo was playing with a pack of broccoli and cheese. "Bro-cco-li and cheese, bro-cco-li and cheese~" he sang softly as he fingered the dairy and vegetable. "Oh how good you are for me, but how yucky you taste~," he added with a smile as he giggled to himself.

_Note to self: Kazuo hates broccoli, maybe even cheese._

"Kazuki, come here, please." Chiru wiggled her finger at him as she grasped the groceries. Kazuo sent a brief, questioning glance her way before opting that it was nothing to know. He went back to singing to the goods.

Kazuki looked back over his other shoulder, at Chiru, and his thoughtful face was wiped off as if it was a mask just waiting to be taken off. His face was blank as a brand-new scroll as he sauntered over to Chiru. He crossed his arms again, as if he was saying inwardly, '_Stop talking to me. It makes me nauseous._' He sighed deeply, only backing up Chiru's inference. "What?" Kazuki snapped in a grumpy, elderly tone. His voice was flat and bored.

"We have thirty minutes. I still have something to get here, and we need Instant Ramen all the way across the market. Can you get it for me? Please?" Chiru asked, leaning down to his level. She spoke softly in his ear, so Kazuo wouldn't catch wind and want to dash off. Sibai was just the same as Kazuo.

But who was Kazuki like?

Kazuki had half a mind to say "No, get it yourself, hag," but he decided against it. Anything would be better than following around the shadowy-haired Hyuuga like a lost puppy. "Sure, whatever. What flavor?"

"I don't care. Get three capsules of twelve. Can you carry that?"

"Yeah." Of course he could carry that. What did he look like, a weak toy soldier? Besides, they got the same thing every time they went shopping. Kazuki could recite the list as well as he could recite Chapter 35 in Tale of a Gutsy Ninja. Not that anyone knew he could.

Without a word, Kazuki wheeled on his heel and started off to the junk, as he called the unnatural section. He had read what they could do to your body and had been quickly repelled. No one seemed to notice he ate all his vegetables and that he didn't eat any junk food, though. No one seemed to notice anything except the things he did wrong, it seemed.

Kazuki did a lot of things wrong.

_Where's the recognition? _The voice whispered.

_Yeah, where is the recognition? _Kazuki agreed. At first, the little voice in his head— his anger, he guessed— seemed like it was off its rocker. Everything it said seemed to lack reason and purpose. But as he listened harder, it began to make sense. It all made sense, now. Why did Kazuki have to suffer? He had already lost his father. His mother hated him. His babysitter hated him. His brother was the only one that even relatively liked him, but he needed more than his brother. He wanted an apology from those who had wronged him.

_Everyone needs to give you an apology, _the voice said.

_They have all wronged us._

He had grabbed random twelve-packs of ramen and was returning within five minutes. After many trips here (his mother didn't trust him at home alone) he had learned many shorter routes to everything. He found himself kicking himself for not taking the long way. Now he would have to see Chiru again, and he only had a short break. Kazuki hated seeing Chiru. Seeing that jerk Hyuuga who put herself so high above everyone else she thought she could just treat him like a kid.

The bitch.

He was passing the Literature section now. Books where piled against shelves and shelves of walls. There was everything about everything. It took all of Kazuki's will power not to stop and check out the newer more of-age books. All the books the old man ever gave him were out of date, unpopular, or just plain unwanted. But he didn't mind all that much. It was better than having his mother figure out he could read. She probably thought he was some retarded kid, or something.

Something caught his eye. Kazuki screeched to a halt and took three steps back, head craned to look for the title. Surely he read it wrong, there was no such title, nor book—

No. There it was. _Taking Care of the Children Too Difficult to Handle,_ by Goro Sazuchi. Outraged and totally unbelieving, Kazuki tore it off the wall and thumbed through it violently. He stopped on a page marked 227 in the middle of the book. _This bastard can actually write 400 pages on disciplining children like we're some dog? It isn't what I think it is, is it? It must be a humor novel- it has to be. No man was cruel enough_.

No. Fucking. Way.

_Though children can be hard to handle, there are ways, so don't fret! With the right amount of discipline and punishment, along with often spurts of praise, a child can grow up to be a perfectly operating adult. As parents, our job is to make sure children grow up to help the community— not to be their friends or their companions. Let them mess up sometimes; do not help them. Let them make their own mistakes. If you have done it right, they will the ideal—_

Kazuki could read no further. His stomach doing summersaults, he closed the book with a vivid _snap _and clenched it tightly in his hands, teeth grinding together like two gears in a machine. How dare they? _How dare they?_

With unyielding fury, a storm whipped out of him. Ominous thunder crackled up his hands and ruthless hail thudded his chest. Before he could think clearly, he tore out that page in the demonic book and stuffed it into his pocket. With brutal antagonism rolling off him in Tsunami waves, Kazuki took the hardcover book and cracked its green leather binding over his knee. He ripped out the pages of the belittling paragraphs, sentences, and words. He even hated the periods.

There was nothing left of Taking Care of the Children Too Difficult to Handle but shreds and fragments. Broken words and uncompleted letters rained down around Kazuki like an endless barrage of literical snowflakes. Kazuki breathed hard, hands clenched tightly at his side. He quivered with each breath as he thought about what he had just read. _Bah! Yeah, here. Throw me a stick, will ya?_

Before some god damned adult could show up and cause trouble, Kazuki left, leaving shattered pieces of both the book and his heart.

_Where is the love?_

_I don't know. Apparently, they're only doing this because we're machines. We don't need love. _Kazuki replied bitterly, his voice dripping with venom.

…

Kazuki was silent when he came back twenty minute after Chiru set him off. The three packages of ramen quivered in his hands and he handed it over. He stayed soundless as Chiru handed him groceries to carry and as they walked back to small house. He didn't even protest when Chiru asked him to put away groceries and set the table for lunch. Chiru was tying an apron around her middle when Kazuki finally said anything.

"You don't have any children, do you?"

Chiru looked at him curiously, hands fiddling with the two cords of material. She quickly brushed it off as a nosy question and turned back to the stove. She turned on the gas stove and set a pot of water on top a red-hot fryer. She was opening the rice when she finally replied. "Me? Nah. My last boyfriend was when I was 17, even."

Kazuki didn't say anything, but only stared at her. He was skeptical as he asked, "You don't feel a duty to your community?" He spat it out like it was trash. Chiru looked at him again, open box of rice in her hands. "What are you _talking_ about?" She stressed, eyebrows jumping high into the sky.

Kazuki didn't reply, only kept placing the blue-and-white bowls as if he hadn't opened his mouth in the first place.

…

**Ah! Done! I was actually done with this chapter two days after Chapter 4 was released, but I labeled it short and pathetic. I could've done so much better. So I erased some the things that were too rough (thanks Michelle) and the things that had nothing do to with the new changes. I added in the grocery store scene and the book scene and tried to add more depth to Kazuki.**

** Oh, yeah. I have actually seen a book like **_**Taking Care of Children Too Difficult to Handle. **_**It pissed me off, because it talked about us like**_** we're some type of dog or malfunctioning robot. **_**You aren't there to be their friends, yatta, and yatta.**

**I don't know about anyone else, but I am not going to listen to a complete stranger when he tells me to clean my room.**

**Continue to Cause Chaos,**

** Aviandra**


	6. Reflection A Stash Under A Bed

"Itadakimasu, Chi-chan!"

There was no doubt about it. Kazuo was definitely a happier child than Kazuki. Chiru stared hard at the older sibling, eyes scan over the depressed blonde like a Cipher Division Shinobi scanned over numbers. He said nothing as he picked at his Teriyaki and glared at his fried rice. His inarizushi was his worst enemy. Chiru, however, had tasted each and every dish before serving it. They all tasted delicious, she was sure of it. So why Kazuki grimacing as if it tasted like a mixture of poison and cow manure?

Trust her. It tasted horrible. (Long story, you have not even seen a weird mission.)

Kazuo was digging in and stuffing his face like there was no tomorrow. Actually, scratch that. Like there was no five minutes later. He didn't even chew. He breathed it in; Chiru wasn't even sure he swallowed. It just fell down his throat.

_I should introduce him to Chouzuka. See how well they get along._

All she was really thinking after that dry, albeit cruel, joke was: _Man I am glad Chouzuka isn't here and isn't a Yamanaka. _

"I'm not hungry. May I leave the table?" Kazuki suddenly asked earnestly, dragging Chiru out of her thoughts by her ankle. Chiru looked deep into his eyes— honey brown on pearly white— and finally gave in. Kazuki looked too eager and earnest to refuse. "Yes, yes. Go," she huffed, waving him off. Kazuki practically jumped out of his chair; his expression like he just got an especially annoying stick yanked out of his butt that had been there for hours. He raced out of the kitchen and into his room, slamming his door behind him.

Chiru stared at where her responsibility previously sat. With a sigh, Chiru stood and started to clean up both her and Kazuki's dishes. What a rude child. He must have some inappropriate magazines or something he wants to look at. Maybe he found an especially interesting page? Chiru made a mental note to check that out, if she could manage. A porn-obsessed son was the last thing Kaori needed.

To her delight, Kazuo finished up and helped her clean up. He was little short and had to stand on his tip-toes to reach the bowls, but his help was appreciated regardless. Instead of putting the young boy through the pain of trying to reach the counter, Chiru took the dished out of small palms with one hand and grabbed a chair with the other hand. She pulled up the chair to the counter and set down the dishes. Without even asking, Kazuo crawled up onto the chair and turned on the warm water. The couple set to cleaning the used dishes.

As Chiru scrubbed the bowls and Kazuo carefully dried porcelain bowls, Chiru found herself growing curious. "Hey, Kazuo. Do you know what your brother is so mad all the time?"

For a seven-year-old, Kazuo's response was pretty helpful. His face was thoughtful as he dried another rice bowl and set it on the counter. "Do you mean why he is so bad all the time and why he's always sad and why he's always saying he hates momma? Oh, I don't know for sure, but I think it's because of my papa. He's been like that since I as really little, I think. At least that what everyone says. They use this big A word I don't know… It's like what you do to puppies you don't want?:

Chiru hearts thudded in her chest as she whispered knowingly, "Abandoned. He felt abandoned."

"Yes, that word. He sort of felt abandoned. I think Nii-kun misses papa. I may only be…," Kazuo counted on his fingers, whispering the numbers quietly to himself before holding up seven fingers. "Seven, but I know Nii-kun is too mean all the time. Nii-kun doesn't know that, I think. I think Nii-kun wants papa back, but is mad because he going to get him and he's stuck with people he doesn't even like and all that he can't go to the Academy and all that stuff—,"

Chiru scrubbed the final dish a bit too hard and dropped it as she asked bewilderedly, "Academy? He wants to be a Shinobi?" It was Kazuo's turn to look confused.

"What's a Shinobi?"

"It's Ninja. You know, the people walking around with those metal things on their foreheads."

"Ooohh! Yeah, he wants to be one of those."

Chiru looked back at the dish, her gaze glazed over in thought.

"Mum! I don't want to be a Ninja! What did Kohona do to deserve my help?" Fourteen years ago, precisely one year and twenty-eight days before the Kyuubi Attack. Seeing all those Shinobi, fighting for both their lives and their people as the village burned to cinders, the dark chakra of Kyuubi no Yuki making all breathing flinched before its sinister grasp; Watching people with lives and family jump in front of deathly blows for their friends. A month later, after the sealing of the new Jinchurriki, the Hokage's Death, and the end of the Kyuubi Attack, rebuilding was far into process. New widows and grieving family joined hand in hand to rebuild their home: and for the first time in her life since Hiroshi Hyuuga disappeared, Chiru reached up to give a hand to an elderly man. He smiled as Chiru asked determinedly, "Future Shinobi at your service. What do you want me to do?"

"Yes, little girl. Hand me that plank, will you?"

"Chi-chan? Are you alive?" Kazuo's childish voice pulled Chiru out of her thoughts by her ankle. She looked back up at Kazuo, then, with a motherly-sort-of smile on her face, she dried the last plate herself and put it away. "What is his reason?" Chiru asked aloud, not specifically to anyone but her own self.  
>"Reason for what?"<p>

"Becoming a Ninja, you know. A Shinobi."

"Oh, I dunno. Do you need a reason?"

Chiru considered explaining such things as the will of fire, and all the people Shinobi's protected, and as someone a few years her senior had told her; who the king is. But, instead, she thought that he should figure that out himself. So she patted his head, watching with amusement as he scowled in a boyish kind of way. "When you're older, you'll know."

"But when I'm older is too far away!"

Chiru put away the last dish. She poked Kazuo's nose, smiling, hiding all her bittersweet memories. Kazuo blinked, not completely sure why a full-grown adult would poke him, of all things. Instead of saying something serious, like he expected her too, she giggled and said, "Just wait, Kazuo-kun."

Confused, Kazuo went away into the living room, back to his puzzle. He sent a suspicious, puzzled look over his shoulder. He then disappeared around the corner. Chiru only smiled and cleaned up the cooking mess, left to only herself, her thoughts, and her chores.

…..

Kazuki had his door locked and his window open. The warm, spring breeze filed in neatly, not blowing the pages of his book one single bit. His book was the oldie-but-goodie, Tales of a Gutsy Ninja. He had reread it so many times, but he just had to read it again, especially when he had jerks watching over him like he had Chiru now.

He was just getting to the chapter with Queen Haruko sacrificing herself for Princess Haruki, when he found one single sentence he could get himself to work past. It was a simple sentence, sure, merely Haruki cried for her mother, but he couldn't bring himself to read the next sentence. With a sigh, Kazuo bent the corner of the page and closed the cook. He threw it under his bed, as always, before just staring out his window to the dusty street beyond.

The side street was partly made of dust, partly made of dirt, partly made of gravel. Unaccustomed visitors would flinch as they walked on the bumpy roads, but Kohona citizens and Shinobi had always been used to and always will be used to. It was deserted, as it always was, and Kazuki found himself becoming bored. Inside, with nothing to do. Mind wandered from good books. With an impish grin, Kazuki crouched on his bed and began to sneak out the window, one hand and one foot first. He turned and flipped the bird in the general direction of Chiru Hyuuga. Then he ducked under the windowsill, landed clumsily on the striped awning below it, and slid down onto the street.

Dust panicked and scattered when Kazuki walloped onto the ground. He smirked and looked back up to the window, covering his face from the sun. He smirked and laughed aloud before racing down the way, skidding around corners and running into innocent bystander. They grunted and fell back a step before cursing the rapid, little blonde boy, who should've been in the academy. He yelled something intelligible in reply with a few quite rude gestures, just to add his own flair.

He spent most of the midmorning and afternoon causing chaos. First, he had walked down the north-west section, which was where most of the famous clans lived. There were posters everywhere on the traditional plywood fences; some of them had Jounin, Chuunin, and Genin on them. They were smiling and laughing, the Genin's arm over cushioning his head, the Chuunin looking at the Genin with slight amusement, and the Jounin looking down at both of them, arm crossed in an all-hail-the-superior kind of way. THIS COULD BE YOU! It read above their heads. Below their feet, it read JOIN THE RANKS THAT PROTECTS KOHONA! Kazuki found this especially amusing: most of the Jounin he had seen didn't walk around like smiling like their face had been uplifted. Most of them, in fact, walked around with this battle-worn air— although Kazuki hadn't gotten close enough to any Shinobi to know their personalities.

He took out a black, permanent marker for these posters. He drew a curly mustachio and unibrow on the Jounin, a pee stain and odor coming from the Chuunin, and braided armpit hair for the Genin. He was going to change the wordings, but as he read the poster again, he found it pretty funny. THIS COULD BE YOU! Severely ugly people in odd-get up below it, looking like complete outvasts. JOIN THE RANKS THAT PROTECT KOHONA! _Ha, that'll turn off anybody wanting to become a ninja. _

"Nii-kun? Why are you defacing posters again?" A small, childish voice said behind him. Kazuki started and turned around as fast as can be, but was relieved to see it was only his brother, not a Shinobi. He was going to yell at his brother for following him, but he spotted a cluster of pretty girls off the right of Kazuo's back. Many of them were looking his way, giggling and gossiping. One, he quickly recognized as that Kamiko girl. Bad boy, his ass! He'd show her. So instead, he quickly covered his surprised face and put on a guise of cool confidence. He crossed his arms and said in a deep, smooth voice, "Kazuo what are you doing here? Did you get lost again?"

"No, Nii-kun. I followed you. And besides, what's up with your voice? Did you swallow a rock again?" Kazuo stated innocently. And _loudly_. The group of females giggled even louder, sending certain looks in Kazuki's direction that he didn't like. Kazuki flushed red and grabbed his brother's hand, desperate to get out of there. He dragged Kazuo away, though it was more like led, because Kazuo just walked with him obediently, but dragged away all the same. He took him down an alley, to the very back. He knelt down and started shaking his brother, back and forth and back and forth. "Kazuo! How many times have I told you not to embarrass me like that?"

"I didn't embarrass you, Nii-kun. Now please stop shaking me."

"Oh, didn't embarrass me my as—," Kazuki stopped mid-sentence as a shadow fell across the duo. He looked up, right into the imposing faces of the Genin whom Chiru had saved him from. They were not happy faces. In fact, most of them looked like they were going to kick his ass.

"Oh fuck."

There were the same three as last time; all boys. One had black hair and brown eyes, like most of the Kohona citizens, and navy blue shirt with brown pants; his protector was on his forehead where it belonged. He had a crooked, untrustworthy grin on his face. Another had long brown hair and black eyes, and he wore a tank top and long pants, with his Kohona forehead protector on his neck. The other had black hair and black eyes, and he simply wore a purple one-piece. His headband was on his waist.

"Look who it is, Goto," Waist headband cooed. Forehead smirked widely and tapped his foot. "Yeah, Haro, lookie, lookie. No creepy blind women around, either," He added meanly, looking around with his hand shielding his eyes. "Shall we have some revenge?" Goto proposed, already cracking his knuckles like he was _tough_ or something. "Oh yeah! Come on Eiji; get the shortie out of our way."

Neck headband headed towards Kazuo, who was looking fearfully at the unfamiliar assailants. Kazuki, desperate, spat at Eiji. "Yo! Neck headband! Aren't neck headbands for girls? Oh wait, you are one!" Before Kazuki could even foully laugh at his bad joke, Eiji punched him across his face. Hard.

Kazuki's head was jerked to the side and his neck cracked painfully. He took a slight step back, ignoring the need to touch his face. "That didn't hurt one single bit," he lied through his teeth. Eiji stepped forward to smack at him again, but before he could, Kazuo took action. "Don't hit my brother!" He cried before kicking Eiji in the shin with tiny power. It was obviously not as painful as it could have been, but it was painful enough for Eiji to jump back and hop around holding his shin, cursing like a drunken sailor. He leant against the wall and rubbed his shin delicately. "That little fucker!" he grunted through gritted teeth. "That hurt like hell!"

Kazuo lost all of his courage he had mustered the moment Eiji stepped forward, tenfold angrier. Before Kazuki could take any action, Kazuo was snatched up and held against the brick wall. He lunged for him, but Goto and Haro held him back by the arms, laughing all the while. "This'll teach 'em, won't it?" They laughed to each other. Kazuki struggled to escape them, but their trained muscles were too much for him to bail. He tried to yank his arms out of their hold, but they just got aggravated at his struggling. "Shaddup!" Haro yelled, taking one hand to upper chuck Kazuki's gut. All the air in Kazuki's chest whooshed out, and he fell to his knees, panting hard. He didn't have the energy to say he didn't speak a word.

Eiji cocked his fist against the young seven-year-old, anger and pure, obscene joy in his eyes. Kazuo looked away, frightened and confused. Tears swam in his eyes as he cried out, "Nii-kun!"

One thing ran through his mind: _Is it a broken home that makes these bastards so aggressive?_

The next few seconds were a blur when Kazuki looked back on it later. He was staring at the dusty ground, struggling to regain his breath. He was so surprised, astonished and, let's admit it, _scared out his wits_ he couldn't breathe. But the moment Kazuo cried out, "Nii-kun," Kazuki knew he had to do something. He was panicking now, panicking, panicking, and panicking. He looked up quickly, hair flying everywhere. Kazuo was pressed against the red brick, brown eyes scared as he stared at his only salvation: his brother. It was like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, but he would take it. For his brother. Surely Kazuo could see the strong fist rushing towards his face. But as the fist came closer, he could feel their hands loosen up as they laughed, as they laughed at the pain that Eiji was going to inflict on a seven-year-old, the bruise he was going to cause.

Before his intellect could tell him otherwise, Kazuki was breaking free of his chains and reaching out for his brother. He forced his body in front of Kazuo's, receiving the bone-crunching punch that had been aimed for Kazuo's cheekbone. Instead it collided with Kazuki's neck vertebrae, crushing the bone and bruising the skin. Eiji dropped Kazuo in surprise, and he fell into Kazuki's open, expecting arms. On instinct, Kazuki curled around his brother like a turtle's protective shell. "Close your eyes and shut your ears," he breathed into his brother's ear. His brother, for once, listened without question. He squeezed his eyes shuts and stuffed his hands over his ears, too frightened to listen or see.

_Hear no Evil,_

_See no Evil,_

_Do no Evil_

Kazuki was glad he did. Mere seconds after Kazuo locked himself away from the world, the three started beating at Kazuo's protective cocoon; also known as his brother. They kicked and punched, even threw a few rocks, but under no circumstances would Kazuki neither bend nor break to the three Genin. This was his brother; his slightly annoying brother. He hated him, he loved him. But no one would hurt him.

Never. Never.

The beatings at his side and back suddenly stop. The boys gasps, and there were scrabbling as dust as dust showered down his shirt. Curious yet apphrensive, Kazuki uncurled his head from his defensive ball, peeking out like a napping bird from its wing. He glanced over his shoulder, searching. His eyes widened and he uncurled immediately, still keeping his arms around Kazuo. Shadows danced around and through the duo, and Kazuki felt the breath slipping from his throat…

Chiru?

….

She had knocked on Kazuki's door to ask if he seen Kazuo. That was it; she had no ulterior motive. She had been wiping down the counters when Kazuo said something about asking for help from Kazuki with his puzzle then disappeared down the hallway. Half an hour later, when Kazuo still hadn't emerged, she went and knocked on the door. With no response, she pushed open the door, sticking in her head to call 'Boys?'. But to her absolute horror, the room was as empty as an abandoned warehouse. The window was wide open; the wind gently stirred the blue curtains.

Now, Chiru panicked. On the inside. After being pressured for nine years about showing no surprise, it just becomes second nature. But, off duty, Chiru didn't exactly show how angry and surprised she was. One word sentences usually work.

"_Fuck_."

She rushed towards the window, her own hair and apron whipping everywhere. The wind had grown stronger throughout the day. As she leant over the simple, twin bed and put her knee on the window to chase the boys down, she stepped on something. It was about two inches thick and a half a foot wide. Chiru nearly fell, and it occurred to her that the boys might be hiding. She knelt at the ground, near the edge of the bed. She lifted the covers to spot the boys, but she saw an object almost completely under the bed. It was a small, dull brown book peeking out from the covers that pooled on the ground. Chiru gently pulled the book out.

It was a book she had never seen before, not in the advertisements, bookstores, or libraries. It wasn't very popular, from the simplicity of it. It was called Tales of a Gutsy Ninja, authored by none other than Jiraiya the Toad Sannin. She read the whole series of Icha Icha Violence, and was sort surprised that it was actually half decent. The plot and the characters were good, and the romance was… entertaining. Extremely so.

So Kazuki was porn-obsessed. Poor Kaori.

She flipped open the book, curious. What exact page was he on?

The page he was on was describing Princess Haruki crying over her mother, Queen Haruko, who had just sacrificed herself for her daughter. A man named Naruto came to comfort her, laying his hand on her shoulder, gruffly saying, "Defending the innocent and protecting the future is the best way to die, Shinobi or not."

She cried and hugged the man.

Chiru read anxiously over the next few pages, but there were no porn at all. It was just the story of a Shinobi named Naruto who spread hope and peace wherever he went. Princess Haruki eventually became evil, trying to slay Naruto because she had been told he had been responsible for both of her parent's demises. When, in fact, he had tried to save Queen Haruko and _was_ Haruki's father.

Chiru was captivated. It was a good story; an amazingly good story. Beyond the level of which Jiraiya usually wrote. But still… What was a little nine year old doing with such a book? What the heck else was under his bed?

She went down on her stomach, pushing out piles of books with her arm. More. Books of every subject. Why did he have so many books? Was he some long-lost Nara, or something? She flipped through several novels. An instruction novel was the first book she browsed; it was on Chakra control, flow, and manipulation. It was low level, but beyond a nine-year-old. Several diagrams and words were circled in red marker; there were apparent marks on the paper from failed manipulation. Over-concentration, it seemed. When chakra was concentrated too densely in one spot, anything you touched was like leaving an ironer on fabric.

She suddenly realized that the whole reason she was looking at this collection; no, _plethora_, of books as because Kazuki and Kazuo were _missing_. She tucked both Tales of a Gutsy Ninja and the manual into her largest pocket and leaped out the window, going into straight-out ninja mode.

It wasn't hard to track the two. Kazuki had wandered off running, too, from the deepness of the prints. Kazuo followed him behind, tailing him all the way to the north-west section. There, he defaced about twelve identical posters, which were advertisements for the Shinobi. Chiru shrugged indifferently when she examined them. She really didn't agree with how they advertised it anyway; and besides, it was pretty funny. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a gaggle of little girls, off the corner, so she went in their direction. They might've seen where they went: street sweepers had brushed over any remaining prints of the two boys.

"Excuse me?" She asked politely to one, a fawn-haired child with freckles. She turned to Chiru, having to look up into Chiru's eyes. She seemed frightened by their colorless nature, being a civilian, but Chiru was far too used to it to take notice. "Yes?" She answered timidly, her voice small.

"Have you seen two boys here? One's about yay tall, the other a mini version of him?" She motioned to about her chest, since he was around 4"8

Before she could respond, another child with dark hair and a purple sundress snorted snobbishly. "Those two dummies? One guy was messing that poster over there and the other came along, and said something and the first one dragged him away," she laughed at the boys. Chiru had half a mind to lecture the living bejezzus out of her, but she instead asked through a practically closed mouth. "Did you know what direction they went?"

"No. I don't care anyway."

"Well, I care!" That was her compressed version of an eight palm attack; apparently, from the way that girl cowered.

"Don't hurt my Nii-kun!" Chiru whipped around to the source, a few hundred yards off. She knew that voice. Sadly, she_ knew_ that _freaking_ voice. "Who doya think that is?" The black-haired child asked the first little girl. "Dunno. Probably some weirdo."

Chiru wasn't even going to waste a stinky fart on those girls. They were what, five and had the brains of a high donkey obsessed with blondes. Seriously. She had enough of that in her school years, even now, and she didn't give a flying ostrich if they were young or not. It still brought a whole new jolt to her stomach when she saw anything relatively like it.

In her mind, Chiru dry-heaved as four words entered her mind_. Oh God, Jun Yamanaka! Wait, I'm getting distracted._

Chiru was already running, different trains of thought galloping through her mind at once, cramming up her brain. _Who was screaming? Where were Kazuki and Kazuo? And, Oh God, Jun Yamanaka! _ Dust exploded like small bombs everywhere Chiru stepped. Her ears were pricked, open to all noises. There was scuffing ahead, only about ten yards. She had to get there. Now.

_Nine._ There was whimper, shouting she couldn't make out. Three people? No, four. Five!

_Six._ Oh man. Those two chakra signatures better not be the ones she thinks they are!

_Two._ What was that thud, that constantly bounding? She's heard that sound. It's the sound of being beaten senseless. Been there, done that. Bad experience.

She was there, staring at Kazuki curled around something, or someone. Three thug Genin were beating at his back, side, and head. It was three Genin Kazuki had been throwing rocks at earlier, in fact. Revenge is best served cold, apparently.. Chiru stood there, flabbergasted for a few moments, before she felt her teeth grinding together. These kids clearly didn't get it. They were made Shinobi because they were expected to _protect_ the citizens of Kohona, not_ beat_ them black and blue. On instinct, she could feel chakra coursing through their veins to power the abuse, and Chiru's mind was racing. They all had bad chakra control and needed help to inflict serious damage, which looked like they were going for. Their muscles were strong but their force was not, and there was no sign of Nin Jutsu users; they had no scars around the body parts that controlled them. Clear hands, arms and feet.

They were her prey now.

Chakra charged to Chiru's hands— she had never wanted to charge it all into one fingertip— and she quietly activated her Byakuugan. There was a pounding in her head from the Kekkai Genkai being activated, but she ignored it. She had _much_ more to worry about. The main chakra escaping point was the mid-bicep chakra point, so if she struck there, all chakra flow from anywhere behind that one point would clog and fail, leaving any Chakra usage in that part of the arm either useless or nearly impossible to work pass. Plus, that one particular Chakra point was able to disable your whole bodily chakra flow and temporarily paralyze the arm. Because the risk of it, Instructors had always urged to never focus chakra there unless you were positive they would not or could not strike that point. This translated to practically never, because you never knew what could happen.

How those dumbasses passed, she had no idea.

Within seconds, she had already chakra-pinpointed one. With a deft hand and quick feet, she slid apart his feet with one foot. He fell into the splits, pin wheeling his arms. Chiru took this chance to snatch his wrist and hold his arm in the air, more or less accurately hitting the desired destination. Her aim must've been spot-on, through, because almost immediately that boy's one arm fell completely limp. Before he could even piece to gather what had happened, Chiru had moved onto the next. This one was aware something was up, so he was slightly prepared. However, Chiru tapped a chakra-loaded finger against a pressure point on the back of his neck. His vision dazed and he blinked; his mind and his body two separate things. Chiru took this opportunity to disable his arm and roughly push him out of the way, moving onto the next dweeb.

This one as smarter and stronger. When he saw that his two friends/goons were being disabled through a chakra point, he had figured in the few seconds that he had that the person was attacking was the Hyuuga from earlier, and she was attacking the Mid-bicep chakra point. So he balanced his chakra again and was on the defense. This was a slight inconvenience, because if she didn't pummel him he'd squirm after he was down. But it also added an edge to the fight. Chiru smirked and went at him.

Part of Chiru couldn't blame him for being unprepared. He was going up against a Hyuuga, of all people, masters of Tai Jutsu. Another part argued that he could have at least blocked more than two. But he did block only two. They were two feeble shots aimed for the sides, and he fended them off easily. But Chiru was able to slip her hand through his defense and force out his hand, giving her a chance to knock him full out in the chest with a Gentle Fist. He stumbled but still stood, so Chiru knocked him aside with one chakra charged swat of her arm. He sunk down by his comrades, moaning.

She crouched next to the roll that was Kazuki. He had been staring up at her ever since she took down the bozos, eyes wide and unassuming. Slowly, as if he was unsure, he loosened his grip on his brother. Kazuo was frightened and disturbed, his eyes wide with pearly tears pouring down his cheeks. So the three of them stared at each other, a few seconds that seemed like hours. Chiru stared at the two brothers, the older brother cushioning the younger sibling in a protective way. Kazuki didn't even seem to _want_ be protective of his brother, but there he was, being protective. She could remember herself in the same position, almost nine years ago.

"_Hey, Hyuuga lets spar!"_

"_Wha—, but—," _

_ Sibai backed up, ball falling out of her hands and rolling. She backed up into the Hyuuga compound wall, her two older clansmen, most likely Chuunin, leering with the fingertips charged. "Hyuuga, why don't you fight? Your father was a prodigy, a real rare one, so why don't you activate your Byakuugan and come at us?"_

"_Don't you know? She doesn't have one!" The two roared with laughter at their insanely unfunny joke. Sibai's eyes roamed for escape, but finding none, her training shuriken clattered to the floor and she cowered, ready for the beating. Her older clansmen, her brethren, liked to pick on her. She was a Hyuuga, and anyone who heard the name Hyuuga looked into their eyes. Would they disable me? Nail my pinpoints? Wait, why is her eyes blue?_

_ Apparently, the other clansmen just found this hilarious. So, they challenged the 'Hyuuga' to a 'Hyuuga Spar' which she obviously couldn't participate in unless she memorized every single pinpoint from a book. It would take years to do that, and even more time to adjust to using it in battle. It wasn't worth it. So she simply covered what she could and braced herself._

_One cocked his hand back, chakra swirling around his fingertips. The other laughed, and opened his mouth to say something. His comment was cut short by a pair of feet crashing into his head, knocking him flat. Still standing on her distant cousin, a young Chiru yelled, "If you wanna pick a fight, pick it with me!" She had short hair with bangs held back by bobby pins back then, and he had taken to wearing a shoulder less shirt that went down to her tights with black tights underneath that, with simple ninja Shinobi sandals. Bandages twirled from her wrist to her elbow on both arms. Her headband was around her neck, as it was nine years ago._

_ They seemed to think that was funny. So, in short, they did. They beat the snot out of Chiru. Chiru doesn't remember the pain, only standing in front of her sister with arms and legs wide, eyes glued shut. _Don't open your eyes, don't open your eyes_, she chanted in her mind. They struck her hard, yes. But she didn't move an inch. That was the day when the entire clan started to secretly call her "Chiru, the Rock" and they didn't mean it in respectful terms. No one was really surprised when Chiru found her natural element was Earth and caused utter destruction and pandemonium with it. Rumors still say she's paying off damage, but Chiru confirms nothing._

Everything suddenly clicked. All through the day, there had been a stirring feeling in her stomach. It was the feeling of familiarity, and Chiru had wondered what it was. But now, looking at Kazuki, it was like looking in a mirror. He was her, a younger her. He was exactly like her. Would he end up being a loud, confident adult? More than likely. Will he end up being a Shinobi, like her? Will he rise up to become Jounin?

We would see.

She extended her hand to herself, and suddenly everything felt odd. It was like looking in a mirror and your reflection not blinking when you do. Chiru had a sudden urge to go look in the mirror, making sure she still had her dark hair, pale skin, and unerring eyes. Would she be blonde, tan, with honey-brown eyes? She wouldn't be caught dead with such a weird hat, though.

Kazuki/Her reflection narrowed his eyes at her. He sent a glance to his brother, who was still sniffling and wiping his eyes. He still had one arm around his shoulders. He tightened his grip and brought his brother closer to himself. Eyes still narrowed in distrust, he reached out and took Chiru's hand. Without permission, she pulled him and Kazuo up. It was like lifting an empty paper bag, with how much ease she pulled him up.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow," Kazuki moaned as he stood. Kazuo whimpered.

Chiru thought for a few seconds before slinging Kazuki over her shoulder and taking Kazuo by the hand. Kazuki yelped, but didn't move. He was in too much pain to move. "Hey! Whaddaya do that for?"

Chiru flashed him a smile before walking out of the alley. "That's what comrades do. They have their comrades' backs," she sent a glance at Kazuki. He was very confused, by the looks of his bruised face. She smiled crookedly before fishing out the two books she brought with her. The color drained from Kazuki's face as he recognized the two books. Which one was he more frightened of her knowing about, the Epic fantasy or the well-used manual?

"But I'm not your comrade!" He stuttered.

"Not yet. But I have a feeling I'll be fighting beside you in a few years."

…

Kaori looked nervous as she applied the bandages to her oldest son. She carefully coated a swab in alcohol become taping over a batch of skinless face. Kazuki hissed, but said nothing. "I don't know," she said unsurely. She started to wrap up Kazuki's arm and chest.

"You should've seen him, Kaori-chan. Only a born Shinobi can defend anyone so selflessly," Chiru boasted, clapping the said 'born Shinobi' on the back. "Ouch!" He screamed. Kaori drew farther into her pit of despair. "It's nice to see that you find my son being beaten senseless as a sign," she muttered.

"That's a way I became tough."

Kazuki barked a rough guffaw. "You? Beaten up? I doubt it. They would've run away screaming when they looked at you. Your eyes are creepy, man!"

Chiru smiled spitefully and went on with examining her hands. A shadow fell across her face as said quietly, "No. I got pummeled defending my younger sister, much like you did. And they didn't care if my eyes were creepy, they had the same eyes. They were my distant cousins after all."

"What are you talking about? There's some kind of mark of respect on your forehead, right there! I can see it!"

Kaori gasped sharply. Everyone knew _exactly_ what those seals were, and everyone knew _exactly_ who bore them. She opened her mouth to chide her son, but Chiru stopped her. "Kaori, this is my story to tell," she said lightly, not even seemingly affected by the couldn't-be-more-wrong comment. Kazuki just sat quietly, looking between the two women for an explanation.

Chiru gently touched her forehead, flinched, and lowered her hand. "This isn't a mark of respect, Kazuki. It's a mark of shame, failure. That is my name in our old language, after all. Shame. This is called the Caged Bird Seal, and half of my clan has it. It goes to all second-born, in order to contain the Byakuugan in the Hyuuga's hand. It can also 'restrain' us by… painful methods, if you will. Excruciatingly painful methods. My father was marked, I was marked, and my younger sister was marked."

Kazuki was wide eyed and breathless as he asked, "Do you… have an older brother, or… something?" Chiru smiled spitefully again. "No. I am the oldest."

"Then why were you marked?"

Now Chiru laughed. "Many reasons. I am not pure Hyuuga, my younger sister, my father, my mother…,"

"What?"

"My dad was a main branch member. My mom was a civilian. Their marriage and conception of my sister and I was banned. I had the Byakuugan, so I dodged the rules. But my sister did not, so there. I was marked, she was marked, and our father was marked. They couldn't mark my mother because she was only a Hyuuga by marriage. And I never saw my father again."

Kazuki looked astounded by the sudden end of explanation. He gaped like a fish for a few seconds, out of words. Kaori looked between the two faces; one was confused, and the other was solid and unreadable. "Wait, wait, hold up. You never saw your father again? What are you talking about?" Chiru seemed aggravated and angry. She sighed roughly, raggedly, and she crossed her arms. "And I never saw my father again. The. End." She ground out.

"But—,"

"I said The End! I never saw my father again, that's all there is to it." Chiru snapped.

Kazuki looked away from her, knowing if he looked into her eyes he would start to cry. Her story was almost like his tale, in a way. One day his father was there, smiling. Holding his shoulders, playing with him. The next day, everyone was whispering, everyone was sending him knowing looks. No one said a word of what happened, but all of a sudden he was alone. No one there to play ball with him, to teach him.

The silence was awkward as everyone took in everything. Kazuki fiddled with his fingers. He struggled for a conversation. "So… am I going to be enrolled in the Academy?" He asked hesitantly, peeking up at his mother. She looked at Chiru, who nodded her approval. "It's best for him, best for the village and the best for you. This boy can do great things… if he actually tries. Don't become a Nara, now." She chided, smiling. Kaori smiled and said, defeated, "Fine. I'll enroll you. But you better behave!"

"I will! I will!" He jumped up and hugged Chiru, but immediately regretted it. The pains started to scream again, and he fell back. "Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow…," he whimpered, spread eagle.

"You will certainly be one of the Shinobi who spend most of their time in the hospital."

"F—," His caught the combined look from both of the females. "Screw off."

"Chill. I'm one of those Shinobi, too."

Kazuki sent a crooked grin Chiru's way. She smiled her half-smile back, but her eyes were clouded over by the recent memories. Kazuki was young, though, and he couldn't read it through Chiru's well-practiced mask. There was a rap at the door, something like jingle. Chiru looked at the door over her shoulder, stared at it, and then turned back to the two— Kazuo had been so exhausted he fell right to sleep— and smiled. "That'll be my escort," she said lightly. She swung open the door, and there stood no one else but her cousin and best friend, Tokuma Hyuuga. He looked extremely bored and tired. Tokuma and Kazuki stared each other down for a few seconds, each having this weird eye-contact thing. It was something in man language, a language that even the nine-year-old boy knew.

The reason she could tell they were speaking in their weird language was that the moment they both broke eye-contact, they look at her simultaneously, gave each other a brief glare, and then averted eyes again.

"Who is this creep?" Kazuki was the first to speak. "Is he that guy that beat you up? And why do you need an escort? And why is he so weird looking? And why do you look alike? And—," Kazuki kept on interrogating. It was painfully obvious he didn't trust Tokuma at all, and he was making it very clear. If he was an animal, he'd be peeing on the doorway right about then. Males and their stupid boundary things.

"Kazuki. Shut up. This is my cousin/best friend, and no, I can't decide how to address him. He never, ever beat me up except in sparring matches, which he apologized like Panda Bear right after for. Escort is just a term I use when he picks me up. We're cousins and the entire Hyuuga clan looks relatively alike. Got it?" She stated bluntly, going to stand beside Tokuma. Tokuma flushed at the 'Panda Bear' comment and looked to the side, denying violently, "D-did not! I took it like a man!"

"You've been hanging out with Haru again, haven't you?" Chiru crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. Haru was their older cousin that was always going on about 'manliness'.

"Yes."

"I knew it. Anyway, bye guys. See you another time." With that, Tokuma gently reached out and closed the door, and they were gone.

On the way home, Tokuma carefully searched Chiru's face. Unlike Kazuki, Tokuma had known Chiru so many years he could read Chiru's face right down to the commas. He laid a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him. They stared into each other's eyes, in more of a friendly way than a romantic, before Tokuma gently asked, "What's up?"

Just as gently, Chiru replied. "The usual. It's been so many years, and I still can't forget. Is that bad?" She crossed her arms and looked up at the sky stubbornly, as if looking into places she couldn't see would make her heal.

"It's perfectly natural. Don't sweat it," Tokuma replied, looking a bit guilty for some reason. Luckily, Chiru didn't catch it.

"I know, but something is just… off. He just disappeared."

"We don't know any other story. Don't forget, meeting about the Chuunin Exams tomorrow." Tokuma changed the subject pretty quickly, and Chiru was only half-listening as he talked about the new generation. She never took her eyes off the sky, only grunting careless 'Oh?' and 'Cool's.

_Destiny made us weak, huh?_

**Hey guys! I'm alive! How many months has it been? I lost track, two maybe? I swear, I'm so sorry. I swore to myself I never become one of those authors who update every few months, but here I am being a hypocrite! I was just seriously writing blocking on this one, and school has been hectic… But! There's a big, huge, AMAZING 14 chapters Arc coming up, so it'll be a while.**

**At long last! This 7,327 word monster is up!**

**You have any questions? I'll answer them. Feel free to email. Oh, and people. Please review. I know you're reading! I love to hear from you guys!**

** Continue to Cause Chaos,**

** Aviandra**


	7. Mission in the Iron: Enter Akane Suzuki!

It was an early Wednesday morning, and the sun woke most people. It shined through their windows, bathing their faces in a different kind of coffee. Sibai Hyuuga blinked away the sun, ignoring the natural wake up-call; she had the day off, the Chuunin Style Jounin exam conference was the day before. She rolled over, swatting away the sunshine like an obnoxious bug in her face.

Her sister did the almost exact same thing. When the sun shone on her, she groaned and rolled over to face the wall. The sun easily crept past her, so she stuffed a pillow over her face. A few hours later, Sibai would rise, shower, dress and depart. Chiru would still in soundly sleeping, drool dribbling out of the corner of her mouth peacefully as dreamed about who knows what. At this point, many people would say, "Just like Kakashi, dang girl."

"But they've barely worked together," another would say.

"That's the bad part about it," They would reply.

On that sunny, horribly sunny Wednesday morning, Chiru slept in on one of the busiest days of her life.

Forty-five minutes before pair of Jounin was due to be at the Hokage Tower for a meeting, Tokuma came to pick her up. Kohona was a monstrous town, biggest of all the elemental nations. It spanned nearly five miles in length and three miles in width— crossing across one side to another is no easy task. It would take thirty-minutes for a Shinobi, over an hour for a civilian. And to top it off, Tokuma had planned to treat Chiru to a dango surprise.

He walked into the quaint house without knocking. The quaint house had grown accustomed to his abrupt comings and goings; it was out of the norm if he was not in their house at least once a day. He was the only person that visited regularly, so it didn't matter anyways. If someone knocked, then they knew someone new was at their door.

"Hey Anzu. How's Sibai?" He questioned as soon as he walked inside the house, closing the door behind him. Anzu looked up from the crossword puzzle she was completing at the kitchen table and answered, "Oh. She went out an hour ago, a little after nine. With some friends, I think."

Tokuma twitched at the mention of 'some friends'. He could feel a nose-cannon coming along as memories flew through his head. Now, Tokuma knew that it wasn't just 'some friend.' It was, in fact, Chou Akimichi, her secret boyfriend until she plucked up the courage to tell her mother; who could be incredibly frightening when she wanted to.

Let's put it this way: soup, glass, confession, female demon, and holed up in a cave for a week. Enough said.

And how did Tokuma know about this of all things? Well… it was about three months ago, lil old Tokuma was walking around the outskirts of the Hyuuga training grounds looking for some training equipment he had lost the day before. Lil old Tokuma turned a bend, looking in the trees for the Shuriken, and then… Whoa ho! A make out scene never seen before. Sibai broke apart from Chou and turned red, while Chou was still in LaLa land. Quickly, lil old Tokuma turned around and slapped his hands over half of his face.

"Don't worry. I won't tell a soul," Lil old Tokuma muttered. And then he promptly rushed home to take care of his nosebleed. The end.

"Anyway, I'm going to get Chiru and split. We have a meeting about the Chuunin exams today. You know it's in like, three weeks, right? Just tell me if you need tickets. I'll hook you up," Tokuma said conversationally, changing the subject quickly in an effort to ward off the oncoming nosebleed. Anzu saw his flushed face but paid no mind to this. Over the years, she had just learned to accept that Tokuma was a weird man and most of his actions were better left unexplained

Tokuma made quick progress to grab Chiru and split. Anzu had seen his flush, which he knew; the clock on both his life and Sibai's was ticking. He cracked open her door just enough to stick his head in. "Chiru? You ready?" He asked loudly. No reply. Confused, he stepped in, wondering if Chiru was hidden away. He groaned at the idea of having to drag Chiru to the meeting. Chiru hated meetings.

"We need to go—," Tokuma called, eyes scanning over the small room. His eyes widened when his eyes fell on the bed.

"Chiru!" Tokuma yelled, staring wide-eyed at his sleeping partner. Arms tucked, curled up into a ball, she seemed comfortable and content. At Tokuma's voice, she groggily lifted her head and stared at him through half-lidded eyes. "Oh, 'ey, Tokum'," she grunted sleepily and collapsed right back into her pillow. Tokuma couldn't believe it. Frozen on the spot, he just stood there, mouth wide open. He tried to say something, but he couldn't muster the belief to say anything. Luckily, Chiru put two and two together slowly in her head as dream land approached her. _Wonder why Tokuma's here so early… It's Wednesday, isn't it? No missions to—_

Her closed eyes shot open. _IT'S WEDNESDAY_. She bolted up straight in her bed, blankets and pillows flying at her impossibly fast rising. "Holy shit, Tokuma!" She screamed, scrambling out of her side of the bed. She dug in her drawers for clothes, rushing past the stunned Tokuma.

"Holy shit, Chiru!" Tokuma replied in a strangled voice, thin and weak with fear. "If we're late, my sensei will kill us—," Tokuma started, fearful. His sensei was an intimidating man.

"Your sensei? I'm scared of _Anko_! Help me get ready!" It was well known info that Kakashi Hatake was the only man that would ever get away with being late. As she rushed into the bathroom, she tripped and banged her head against the doorframe. She just let out a colorful profanity Tokuma had never heard before and stumbled into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Tokuma gathered up everything she had forgot and darted into the bathroom. He combed her hair and put on her shoes as she brushed her teeth and pulled on her shorts. Although they were in a rush, it took every ounce of willpower to keep his eyes off the changing Chiru. Chiru was obviously too tired to notice that she was changing in front of her male companion.

Barely five minutes later, out came the pair, racing out of the room and into the kitchen/living room area. "Don't forget your info!" Tokuma remembered as he searched the area for her bag. Chiru grabbed an orange and a carton of milk for her to eat. She looked up and paled.

"Dammit all the hell! Where did I put my files?" Chiru screamed in reply. Then, as she chugged her milk and attacked her orange, she and Tokuma hunted for the eight two inch-thick manila folders containing pages and pages of information, rules, procedures, and files. Ten minutes later they found it, on the very edge of the tallest bookcase in the house. "How did it get all the fucking way up _there_?" Chiru wailed, jumping for the top. Tokuma reached up easily and retrieved them for her. For a few seconds, the shortie and the tallsy stared at each other, Tokuma hunched over, arm outstretched with the file at the ready.

Then they were charging down the street, far past the usual (and safe) ninja speed. Chiru was stuffing the folders into her messenger bag, and Tokuma was handing her file after file screaming out to the townspeople: "Excuse us! Excuse us! Late Ninja coming through, pardon me! Pardon me!" Unfortunately, the citizens could not shuffle out of the way fast enough to move, so Tokuma just ended up hooking his arm around Chiru's waist and dragging him up to the Ninja Highway: the rooftops.

They arrived twenty minutes late. They didn't even bother to go through the door, would've taken way too much time; time they didn't have. Chiru was the first to squeeze in, via small, thin window ten feet. She stopped and stared at the crowd of Jounin, who stared back blankly. Chiru's eyes widened in surprise as she scanned over the crowd. Tokuma, meanwhile, was struggling in with Chiru's bag. He stuck halfway through, trying to tug the bag through the window. He finally fell to the ground, bag and all. He brushed himself off as he got up nonchalantly, smoothly covering it all. "Chiru, I swear, I will buy you the most expensive backpack there is if you would just get rid of this thing," he grunted as he rubbed a new bruise.

Chiru sent a bone-chilling glare at Tokuma. She turned back to the crowd, eyes straying to a specific silver-haired genius. Chiru pointed at Tokuma accusingly and explained, "It's his fault."

"_What?"_

"You didn't wake me up, so I slept in!"

"If it wasn't for _me_, you would still be asleep!"

He tossed Chiru her bag from across the room. She caught it and promptly dumped her files onto her table space, ruining all the work Tokuma had done to stuff it inside the bag in the first place. She kicked her bag under the chair and sat down heavily, landing with a heavy thump. The chair cried in protest. "Tokuma. Kakashi was here before us. _Ka-ka-shi,_" She stressed, pointing down at the gravity-defying thirty-year-old. The Jounin looked up from his Icha Icha book and waved. "Yo," he said.

Tokuma didn't seem to have a reply for that one. He sat down next to Chiru, thinking of a comeback as he stacked his papers repeatedly. His mind drew an infinite blank. Finally, someone came to their rescue. "Chiru-san, Tokuma-san. The only reason Kakashi was here before you two was because we told him the meeting started four hours ago," Kurenai called down from the rear end of the table. The black-haired beauty waved her hand in a 'calm down' gesture at the cousins. Suddenly, Chiru was more amused than annoyed. She was teasing when she blamed it on Tokuma, though she was still slightly irked that Kakashi made it to a meeting on time when she couldn't. The idea that someone finally doped Kakashi into showing up in time was a serious mood lifter.

She guffawed into her hand, pointing at Kakashi with one finger. "You got tricked?" she snickered incredulously. The table of Jounin started laughing with her; obviously finding that the copy-nin of the leaf had been swindled into breaking a habit of his own was just as amusing as she thought it was. Kakashi tried to good-naturedly laugh along, but he obviously didn't find it as charming.

The oak doors at the far end of the room opened nosily, hushing all the laughed, and, uhm, excessive bullying. Slowly and deliberately, the 3rd Hokage shambled in, his red and white cloak dragging behind him. His Hokage hat cast a shadow over the creased man's face, making the kind old leader look deadly and mysterious. _That just does not fit him_, Chiru thought with a twitching of her eyebrow. He finally made his way across the room into his large ornate chair, backed with red velvet cushions and superiorly carved armrests. He settled into the chair with a soft sigh.

The room was deathly silent. Any ruckus, bartering, teasing, or any friendly (or bully-ish) interactions had ceased. "Are we all calm now?" he asked, amused at the havoc his top soldiers had caused.

No reply.

"Yes? Then let the Jounin Style Chuunin Exam Meeting Begin."

…

People said that the Jounin Style Chuunin Exam Meeting was the worst meeting for Jounin. At first, Chiru sent them a glance that went along the lines of _'I'll make that opinion myself, thanks'_, but now she agrees wholeheartedly. The meeting was long, ruthless… and dreadfully boring. The hours were spent flipping through papers, going over protocol, memorizing habits, powers, and of course, hating against other countries coming to compete in the Chuunin exams. The Hokage wouldn't stand for outright insults against other countries, but it was spoken in such a way pinning a Jounin for it would be considered insane.

"I heard Suna has many wind users. Don't want them against us," one said while on the topic of the Suna visitors *cough*_invaders_*cough, looking at an informational sheet from Suna. His tone was light; but dark shadows graced his face as he rapidly switched sheets. His hands were shaking out of pure hatred he held towards the windy nation. The point of they were still talking about Suna was forgotten as he stared at a memo from Iwagakure.

Chiru glanced up worriedly at him, but she shook it off and she stared back down at her own copy of the sheet.

Nearly five hours later, the meeting was finally dismissed. Chiru stood up quickly, raising her hands above her head. She let out a loud yawn and pulled at her arms. Her knees and her elbows cracked sharply, as if to say, 'oh yes! _Freedom_!' "C'mon, Tokuma! Let's blow this joint," she said happily to Tokuma. He looked like his brain had exploded inside his head, and then someone drank it as a milkshake. "Uhh," he moaned. "L-let's just go," he whispered weakly. "It feels like someone just chidoried my brain…,"

"Everyone, everyone. Don't forget to grab your role sheets on your way out," Hiruzen called across the room. The stack of papers sitting on a stand by the door was quickly getting smaller and smaller as each Jounin hurriedly made their own departure, to heal their damaged brains and prepare for the three weeks to come. Chiru would happily conform to _that_ group for once and leave like hell was on her tail, but a flying monkey stopped her.

"Chiru Hyuuga, Tokuma Hyuuga. Akane Suzuki. I have a special assignment for you three," the Hokage mused, almost to himself. Chiru stopped in her tracks, stuck halfway-in, halfway out the door. Two slips of paper were in her hands, waiting to be read by Chiru and Tokuma. "Dammit," she muttered. "So damn close."

She turned glumly, along with her cousin and Akane. They dragged their feet up to the Hokage and feel to one knee, all at the same time. Not one of them was happy about this special 'assignment'. "Yes, Hokage-sama!" They chanted in unison.

He settled back down into his chair and pulled out a folder. Chiru internally groaned. _Not another folder! _ "I have a special mission for you three. It is the last mission above D rank to be done before the Chuunin Exams. Usually, we would tell them that we cannot take the time to do their mission, but in this case it seems they are in dire need of assistance," he chuckled sheepishly and rubbed his head, "And they offered a mighty handsome fee~," he added, almost as an afterthought.

Chiru sighed and rubbed her head, although it was still loyally facing the ground. _Just my luck to get the very last mission. _"Yes, Hokage-sama. What is our mission?" Tokuma intoned, just like the perfect little Jounin. The goody-two-shoes.

"There is a large hotel business that spans across the Elemental Nations. _Sleep well_, have you heard of it? Of course you have. Anyway, the owner of this business is convinced that it is being targeted by rouges. He has contacted Kohona for assistance, because it is said that the leader of his problem, as he calls it, is interested in dark-haired, pale skinned women with generous bodies…," his eyes skimmed over the two women kneeling before him. Chiru fit the description perfectly, and Akane was everything but dark-haired. They looked at each other nervously_. Please don't let this be a seduction mission… _they thought, loyally pinning their eyes back to the floor.

Chiru could feel the nervousness rolling off Tokuma. Not for him, but for the women. He was obviously thinking the same thing they were. "Kohona for some odd reason has a surplus of these, even luckier most are Kunoichi. Your job is to hide within the servants and guests and take the rouges down. No seduction is required, ladies, I can see the look on your faces. It is just to lure him out." Chiru and Akane visibly let out a sigh of relief. Any self-respecting Kunoichi hated seduction missions.

"Sir, right away. Where does this mission take place, sir?"

The Hokage took a long drag from the pipe perching on his lips. He let out a deep sigh, smoke curling tauntingly out of his mouth. "Just outside the borders of the iron country."

The three Jounin stiffened. The tenseness in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Everyone knew who the iron country was. Though it had never been involved in any Shinobi wars, being involved with Samurai instead, its power was well-known and feared. The image of a vicious samurai cloaked in black armor, a chakra-infused sword slashing through the air towards you… it was a terrifying image. Without even needing to think about it, Shinobi countries avoided the iron like the plague. They were smart enough to fear, or be apprehensive…

It was just Chiru's luck to be stuck with the country that wasn't smart _at all._

"You have two weeks to complete this mission. Usually, it takes about a week to travel to the country of iron on foot. But we do not have that time to waste, so I have arranged special transportation for you three," he continued on, ignoring the three surprised glances sent his way. With a flicker of his eyes, three pairs of eyes were staring at the waxy wooden floor once again. Chiru found herself starting to hate that floor.

"A recent technology has developed in the country of the snow. Something they call a train. It can transport people and items faster and longer than any ninja. The seven day trip will be cut down to three days. The snow and the iron have always had strong ties through trade and have developed a close friendship—,"

_Something we don't have with any other country. The fire nation is utterly alone._

"—With each other. Any recent discoveries from either country are immediately transported to the other. This train has been given to the iron, and it had the generosity to build a track leading to its border, the coast, and the land of snow. I have gone through the trouble of securing you three tickets. It leaves at 10 p.m. tonight, a few miles west of border town. You have one hour to depart. Any other information relevant is in this folder." He held out the folder to Tokuma. He leant back on his knees and took the folder in hand. A cloud of despair visibly sunk over him as he tried to find space for it in Chiru's messenger bag. He never bothered taking his own bag. Chiru's bag _used_ to have enough space for everything.

"Dismissed," The Hokage waved his hand, turning in his wheelie chair to face Kohona. The three Shinobi immediately departed through a window on the left side of the room. Akane was picking up a slip of paper from the doorway. Chiru had pulled open the window, one foot on the sill and another hand out for her bag when the Hokage added, almost as an afterthought, "Oh yes. Chiru, Akane, Tokuma? Pack your winter clothes…," he turned to them and gave them a crooked smile.

"I hear it is very cold in Iron."

…

Chiru flew about her mother's small house in a hurry. She had already gotten another spare bag and stuffed it onto her bag, had Sibai (who came back weirdly dazed) run to the weapons shop and have her kunai and shuriken sharpened, gathered three weeks of clothes— being a ninja was dirty, dirty business— and now she was looking for her two pairs of winter uniform. It was a long sleeved, navy blue jacket with grey and white fur artfully patterned on the inside. It went down to her knees, but split to give her some thigh. And, Chiru, not being one for showing off much, always had thick cotton tights to go with. Her fingers got cold easily, too, so she had gloves. But she found those. It was the perfect winter uniform— warm, easy to move around in. The problem was…

She couldn't find the damn things. She had already searched her drawers, the closet, the bathroom (where much of her clothes disappeared), the dryer, and under her bed. She was supposed to show up at the village gate at 4 p.m., and it was about 3:25 now. She was getting desperate. "Mom! Have you seen my winter uniform?" She slid around the corner separating the living room from the dining room. Her gloved hand almost lost grip on the wall.

"Have you checked your dirty laundry basket?"

Of course! The majority of her missions usually took place in the snow, after all. Chiru felt like hitting her head against the wall just because of her mere stupidity. She whirled back around, into her room and dug through her tall laundry basket for the jacket and tights. There they were, at the bottom, looking wrinkled and damp. She picked them up and started to stuff them in her bag when she caught a foul smell. "Hoh gooooo," she moaned. She took out the arm that was in the sleeve and sniffed the clothing. She recoiled instantly. It smelt disgusting! She couldn't go anywhere in this.

"Mom! How long would it take to do some laundry?" she screamed. She still had to take a shower and get everything organized. An hour was not enough time to prepare for a mission in such a busy time!

"About twenty minutes, if I hurry. Why?" Anzu walked from the kitchen and into her doorframe. She leaned against it as she wiped the water off a plate she was cleaning. "Mom? Can you please, please, please do my laundry? Really, really fast? I need this for a mission that I need to be at in thirty-five minutes and I still need to take a shower and other stuff! Please, please, please—," she begged, holding out the laundry.

"Chiru! Of course I will. Just hurry up and do your business!" Anzu took the clothes and rushed outside to wash them. "Thank you, mom!"

Chiru showered quickly, jumping in and out of the shower practically. Still in a towel, she started folding clothes and putting it in her bag, along with medical supplies, scrolls, and other ninjaly essentials. Afterwards, she struggled into her navy top. She stopped for a second only to admire herself in the mirror. She turned sideways and raked her hands over her broad, but flat stomach. She frowned and laughed to herself sharply. "Big boobs, tiny waist. Yeah right! Please, goodbye laws of gravity." She laughed to herself again and proceeded to struggle against a battle with her shorts.

She heard the door open when she was wrestling on her pants. _Sibai with my weaponry! _With her pants only up to her calves, she practically fell out of her doorway and into the kitchen, which was by the front door. She stumbled to avoid hitting the wall, tripping to face Sibai. "Sibai, can you put those in my hol—," the rest of her words lodged themselves solidly in her throat, too embarrassed to come back out. Sibai _was_ in the doorway with a brown paper sack, no doubt full of her kunai and other, but Tokuma was also standing beside her, a bag half-way over his shoulder. His mouth didn't form a perfect O, but more of a square. It looked like his jaw became unhinged. He had the perfect view of her striped panties.

Chiru was utterly flabbergasted for a few seconds. There was a perfectly awkward silence as they stared at each other.

Tokuma rubbed his chin, mouth still open. _I never thought I'd live to see the day…_

Chiru desperately tried pulling up her pants, jumping repeatedly. Then she hurriedly unbuttoned it and pulled it up with much more ease. _Dammit. Now he's seen my chest and my crotch._

Sibai shifted her weight uncomfortably, staring at the invisible but quite apparent elephant in the room. _Sexual tension alert… _She set the bag on the kitchen counter carefully. "Well, uh… I… have uh… some… people to, uh, see. You know… yeah," Sibai stuttered awkwardly, slowly taking steps back. She turned and made haste to retreat to the Akimichi house. She loved her family, but without the retreat of her teammate/boyfriends house, she would lose her marbles.

There were a few more seconds of awkward silence. "_Ugh_! You know what? I'm in too much of a hurry to even care!" Chiru finally yelled, tossing her bag to Tokuma. He nearly dropped it on the floor, but he caught it. "Pack some food, will ya?" Chiru hollered as she snatched the paper bag and retreated back into her room. "U-uh, s-sure," Tokuma managed weakly, opening the fridge. He was caught between cheering or writhing in the shame of seeing his best friend's most intimate area scarcely clothed. He stuffed several quick-eat, quick-prepare meals in the bag before ravaging the cabinets also. But the time he was zipping up the bag, Chiru was running out with her bags packed.

"Come on! Come on! Let's go, go, go!" Chiru screamed again, screeching around the corner, strapping her kunai holster to her thigh at the same time. She tugged his arm and tried to drag the well-built man out of the house. Tokuma started to follow her without a word, either too shell-shocked to speak or smart enough to keep his trap shut.

"Chiru! Chiru! Don't leave yet, I have your winter clothes," Anzu yelled from the backyard. She ran back in with still slightly-damp heavy winter wear. She dumped them in her eldest's daughter's hands, and stood akimbo. "Go on! Go on! I didn't just do your laundry for nothing!"

She rushed the two out the door, pausing in the doorway. She leaned against it with her arms crossed as her daughter— and practically son— retreated down the part cobblestone part dirt path that led to the back Hyuuga Compound entrance. Tokuma turned and gave a polite wave before taking Chiru's bag like a true gentleman. Chiru, paradox, full turned around and waved over her head, one hand cupping her mouth and her legs walking backwards. To some, she looked like a complete dumbass as she yelled, "Goodbye Mom! I'll be back a week before the Chuunin Exams!" But to Anzu and Tokuma, she just looked like Chiru.

As Chiru turned around, she ran into the Hyuuga compound wall. Tokuma stopped and twitched as he stared at Chiru's damaged body. She slowly slid off the wall, falling onto her back. Tokuma sighed, always the mature one, and pulled Chiru up tiredly. He mumbled something about carrying her bag, and then her, but luckily she regained her senses and staggered out of the compound. "I think my nose is broken," she added to Tokuma, rubbing her sore face. Tokuma rolled his eyes and disappeared in a smudge of black, followed by Chiru. Anzu sighed and closed the door, leaning against the oak door. "Hiroshi, your daughter is turning out to be just like you." She said to the empty house.

As if to remind her of the emptiness, there was not one reply.

….

Akane was already waiting by the time Chiru and Tokuma strolled up to the gate. "Are we finally ready to go, etsu?" she said, amused. It had been a long time since she had had a mission with her teammate and her teammate's cousin. They were a blast to hang around with, a horror to battle with, and a pain to debate with. It was like some twisted, ironic oxymoron. Sometimes they were pitted against each other, but the moment you tried to step in and fix it, they tag-teamed you like they were planning it. Many found it annoying. Akane just saw it as the perfect example of the human mortality. In a sort of sick way, it was interesting…

Akane slapped herself inwardly. _Stop talking like Orochimaru!_

"Yes we are etsu!" Chiru spat back, a grin tearing at her face. Akane sighed and waved her hand in the air, almost as if, 'go on'. "Tokuma, the honors?"

"Of course," the gentleman replied, and then promptly smacked Chiru on the back of the head.

Akane was a well-endowed twenty-two year old, standing nearly 5"6 with a broad waist and generous endowments. Her hair was crayon red, a beacon to anyone in a five-mile radius; she took her long bangs and pinned them to the back of her head, braiding that into her ponytail. Instead of a brown or black like most Kohonaians, her eyes were a rare blue-green color that came only from the whirlpool country, where he clanless mother was born. She wore a deep red sleeveless dress with two white sashes draping over her shoulders, tied together by her Shinobi headband. Mesh and fishnet worked as her undershorts, fitting onto her form perfectly.

"The station is that way, and we can pull in, etsu, four hours. If we hurry etsu."

"But the train leaves in about six hours. Why do we have to get there two hours early?"

"I hear the wait is long, etsu."

"Okay, let's haul some serious ass then," Chiru butt in, jumping into a tree branch. For once, she seemed excited to go.

Akane and Tokuma looked at each other and shrugged. They glided up to the treetops and set off, dashing on and off tree branches engineered for transportation.

"Etsu, why did it take so long for you to get here anyway?" Akane asked Chiru curiously, itching her cheek in the way she did that went, 'I don't really care… but tell me!'

"I had to wash my winter clothes. I swear! I go on so many cold-weathered missions, it was in my dirty laundry basket," Chiru complained, motioning to her bag.

"Don't be ridiculous," Tokuma countered with a bored look on his face.

"You just never do your laundry."

**It's done! It's done! Hoh yay! I don't even want to know how long it has been since I last published. A game called DOMO has been distracting me. Oh, and yes, I do not own Naruto. Trust me. The fight scenes would be a lot better. More epic. More JINCHUURKI. Eh, whatever. –Evil face-**

**Oh, and yes. If you read, please take time to comment… those silent favs and follows creep me out. Hell, flame me if you want. I don't care. : P I have tough skin, etsu?**

_**Etsu— eh**_

**Yay! What chapter is this? –Looks at title- AH. 7! YAY! So… 14 MORE CHAPTERS UNTIL CHUUNIN EXAMS! Derp. :P**


	8. DAY 1

The trained roared and snorted along the sturdy iron tracks, gently swaying everything inside its steel belly. In cabin 8D, three young Shinobi sat. One was looking at a packet of papers, another was reading peacefully, and the last one, a dark-haired female, was sticking her head out the small window and focusing on keeping her lunch in her stomach.

"Hey, Chiru," the lithe male examining the papers said. "We got a place in every stage of the Chuunin Exams. That's cool, isn't it?"

Chiru nodded vaguely and promptly released her guts when the train hit a bump.

Akane looked up from her book and sighed a little. "Chiru-chan, please realize that now that this is available, we will be using it often, etsu. You might want to get used to it." Chiru looked over and yelled her face a disgusting mixture of red and green, "SHADDUP. IT FEELS LIKE MY STOMACH WAS JUST SWALLOWED BY MY UTERUS WHICH WAS SWALLOWED BY MY OVARIES WHILE PROMPTLY SHOVED IT INSIDE MY BOWELS!"

And she threw up again.

"Chiru-chan, you're on your period, aren't you, etsu?"

"N-n," the junk coming out her throat stopped her conversation completely.

Tokuma, who was innocently trying to weather the odd conversation from his cousin and teammate, sighed shakily and took in a breath. He looked remarkably… greener since Chiru's explanation. He shook off the nausea and stored away the papers back into the manila folder. _So… Were finally being instructors, huh?_

Tokuma had been itching to be an instructor, ever since he was a Chuunin. The moment he graduated, he marched up to Old Man Third, and he said, "Hokage-sama! I want to be an instructor in the next Chuunin Exams!" The old man shook his head and laughed, gently rubbing Tokuma's capped cranium.

He could remember his own Chuunin Exams. He had passed it the first time, luckily, while Chiru had not. He had defeated a mist ninja on the last few seconds of his consciousness. There was a scar from the black-haired Shinobi on his arm still. His hand ghosted over his right forearm, squeezing it gently. He doesn't remember the first name of his opponent, only the second name. _Yuki. _The ice-styled techniques of the teenager were hard to deal with, especially with his fighting style.

Desperate, he had expanded his chakra into a sphere, and pressurized everything inside the ball. The mirrors shattered and shards fell like rain, the Yuki-nin (as he liked to call him), collapsed to the ground, unconscious and bleeding profusely from his mouth and ears. Out of chakra exhaustion, hypothermia, and blood loss, his vision had started to fade. He could distinctly remember one thing running through his mind: 'Stay upright, stay upright,' the instructor took his mangled, bloody hand and raised it in the air. "Hyuuga Tokuma is the victor!"

Everything went black.

Chiru had gone before him. She was against a Kunoichi, a green-haired beauty by the name of Rika. She was calm, cool, and utterly insane. She had a minor control on the subconscious, it seemed. During Chiru's battle, she shouted out things she shouldn't have. She got into Chiru's head; she yelled all her secrets to the world.

"_How much pain have you gone through from that ugly seal on your head?"_

"_No papa, Hm? Poor baby!"_

"_You live with your father's killer! You slave below them! How can you live with yourself?"_

Chiru… for a lack of a better words, snapped. Getting to Chuunin, winning, celebrating; everything left her head. Only thing that ran in her head: Make her feel the pain. Although she lost, bad, Rika felt the pain. It was a desperate hand-to-hand battle, chakra exploding and insults and secrets spilling everywhere. Finally, Chiru screamed, "Shut the fuck up, you bitch!" And slammed her densely-charged chakra-ridden hand into the girls open wound; inflicted by none other than Chiru. Rika gasped, blood flowed out of her mouth. "Is that all you got?" she mumbled weakly. Her ninja blade, short, sharp and to the point, was through Chiru's chest in moments.

"No," Chiru whispered. She released her compressed chakra waves through the grass-nines arm. Rika shuddered, gasped. She groaned as blood flowed out her mouth in bulk. The flesh around the wound shriveled from the foreign chakra, dying. "Rika of the grass is victor!"

Rika had to get her arm amputated in order to survive. The attack named "Rika" in honor or maybe in pride, had never had the same results before or after. Anger truly changed people, it seemed.

Tokuma sat with her while she was in the infirmary. "Chiru-san will live. There will be scarring and she will not be able to train for several weeks; but she fared better than Rika. Rika has lost her title as ninja simply because the damage in her arm was too great to repair. She has lost her arm."

Chiru, who had awakened shortly after her brief operation, looked dully at the nurse. "Did I… really ruin her career?" she asked slowly, hunched over from her sitting position in her bed. "Yes, Chiru-san, you did. You should be punished and make that Jutsu illegal, but that's just me," she spat and left the room. Tokuma, from the side of her bed, looked at Chiru. Her chest was heavily bandaged, as was her head and her arm. Gauze was her clothing now: she needed no clothes. Her eyes were empty as she stared at the blank, featureless bed covers. She clenched them weakly.

"I… I just ruined someone's life."

"Chiru… you made her feel the pain, didn't you?"

She paused briefly. She could remember, screaming, out her of head, out of her mind_. I'll make you feel the pain! I'll make you suffer for that!_

"Yes… Yes I did."

….

"Sir, do you want any coffee, water?" The plump maternal attendant asked him. He looked up, surprise coating his face. "O-oh. Oh yes, please. Coffee with a little bit of milk, please." The attendant nodded and gave him his order, steaming hot in a white mug. He clenched it absentmindedly, the warmness of the cup giving him a blind sense of comfort. He stared blankly at the cup, watching his coffee-brown reflection, thoughts and images clouding his head.

"Tokuma?" Akane asked him, laying a pale hand on his shoulder. He jumped and looked over at her. "O-oh! I'm fine, I am."

The look Chiru sent him through the glass— oh, gross, was it flecked with vomit?— was frightening, but it made him feel bad for making her worry. "I was just remembering our Chuunin exams," he admitted, his face twisting into something between apologetic and sheepish.

"Etsu? You mean when Chiru ruined that one girls arm, you had a fight with some ice wizard, and I had that perv who kept asking me out for a date during the battle?"

"Is there any other?"

Akane's mouth set itself in a straight line. Tokuma almost laughed at the idea of Akane looking like a slim, red-haired hamster, but he has far too much self-control to be punched for something as small as that. "Etsu, I hated that Chuunin Exam," she mumbled pressing her cheek against her open palm. Chiru hit the window and gave thumbs up, as if to say, _me too_.

"I didn't exactly hate it, but it was a bit gory, at best."

"Etsu… didn't that Exam get the prize for most contestants loosing limbs?"

"Yupp."

"Oh, by the way, Chiru; I forgot to congratulate on you tying up the record with the crazy chick. Nice going, eh?"

Chiru collapsed back into the couch. Her face was pale(r) and drawn. She looked even more like a ghost than the dark-haired, pale-skinned girl usually did. Chiru sent an icy-cold glare towards Akane, who stared back with a perfectly blank stare, not even the least bit intimidated. "I still feel bad for that girl, you know," Chiru mentioned, slumping against the cushioned seat.

"I heard on the Rumor Chain that she ran away with a Suna boy who lost his leg or something in battle and had tons of kids." Tokuma piped in, the same moment Akane went, "Etsu."

There was a pause as Chiru tried to think of what to say. "You know what? I hate you both. Now let me sleep," she rolled over and tucked herself into the corner of the cabin.

And their conversation ended there.

…..

The sun was setting over gently rolling hills when Chiru was awoken for dinner. Tokuma has a fresh, steaming bowl of soup set in front of him. He took a sip, _mmm_ed, and stayed silent for the rest of the dinner, focusing on his food. He left after he was done to return to the kitchen and order another bowl. Tokuma had ordered Chiru a serving of fried rice and chicken, and she ate that thankfully. Akane, however, had a small salad with ginger dressing.

"Aren't you hungry?" Akane looked up from her salad, which, to that point, had been untouched.

"No… Etsu… but have you seen the mission files?" She pushed away her salad and held up the file from her side. It looked suspiciously normal, no 'top secret' stamped on it in blood red ink. Chiru stared at it, contemplating what evils or surprises lied within. Was there something special about a B rank that would require Chiru to rigorously pour over it? _I certainly hope not. _Chiru thought to herself. "I haven't. Why?"

"You might find this interesting, etsu." She threw the folder at the Hyuuga, and it landed on Chiru's small retractable table. Sending a lingering glance to Akane, and then the folder, Chiru took it suspiciously and flipped it open, reading the pages quickly. She stopped on the fifth page or so. "I already know all this. There's a hot spring owner on the border of Iron that believes a rogue Shinobi or Samurai is trying to take over his hot spring and then use it as a weapon post to wage a battle with the Great Nations. What about it?"

Akane looked at Chiru. Her eyes seemed to shove through Chiru's soul and forebode bad things. Chiru quickly broke their eyelock and looked back down at the folder. "Look on the enemy description."

Chiru carefully thumbed through pages until she stopped at the enemy description. The information given was little, and that was unsettling enough as it is. Her mouth set itself in a crooked grimace and she read.

_**Name: Unknown**_

_**Age: Unknown**_

_**Height: Unknown**_

_**Weight: Unknown**_

_**Appearance: …**_

Chiru's eyes widened at the blurry picture given. Only sandy blonde hair and dull, red eyes were clear. The facial features and body was blurred, but those two were clear. The eyes glinted, and even in a stand-still picture, gates of hell opened within them and showed the madness in his head. Something dark silver glinted in his hands, a blade or a metal rod. Chiru's mouth slowly clenched itself into a ragged straight line, her eyes narrowing. The page almost tore in her hands.

"Kyoki…," she growled out.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, eh? It's highly likely it's someone else."

Chiru took a deep breath. _Breathe innnnn, breathe outttt, and empty your gut of killer urges and further nausea… _Just the mere thought of vomiting again made her stomach do a back-flip. So she threw open the window, launched half of her body outside, and promptly emptied what food she had eaten. Akane reached up and patted her back, rubbing it awkwardly in an attempt to comfort the angry and very, very sick Kunoichi. Tokuma slid the cabin door open right that moment, returning with two more bowls of the delicious soup, a tonic, and another plate of fried rice for Chiru. He set the food down, patted Chiru's back, and went to mixing the tonic into Chiru's drink.

Akane was still frightened of Tokuma's foresight.

**Ugh. My apologies, my apologies. I have no idea where to go with this, thus far. It'll get better next Chapter, called Day 2. There'll be 14 chapters, so… 13 chappies until CHUUNIN EXAMS.**

**Review, review, review. ^^ Oh, and it seems I will be Beta-ing an author on here, so I might be a llliiiitttttllle slower with updates. Luckily, it won't take long to beta his work. ^^**

**It's been 6 MONTHS since I published this story.**

**Time flies, doesn't it?... 6 months, 8 chapters… that's like, 1 chapter a month… SHIT, NOO! NOT WHILE I CAN HELP IT…**

**Let me do my homework first. XD**


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